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Regional Bureau for Latin America and
the Caribbean
(ODP)
Plurinational State of Bolivia
Colombia
Cuba
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
El Salvador
Guatemala
Haiti
Honduras
Nicaragua
Peru
Regional Bureau for Latin America and the
Caribbean (ODP)
447
The regional bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean (ODP) covers eleven countries: The
Plurinational State of Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador,
Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua and Peru. In addition, WFP has the Centre of
Excellence in Brazil that reports to the policy division in headquarters. The regional bureau is
located in Panama where different programmatic interventions are planned and where the
permanent location of a United Nations Humanitarian Response Depot is based. WFP also
maintains a satellite office in Chile while a WFP consultant serves as a liaison on nutrition
issues for Belize and Costa Rica.
Expected Operational Trends in 2013
WFP’s presence in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is comprised of small and
medium sized country offices. These offices are located mostly in middle income countries
facing chronic undernutrition and recurrent emergencies due to natural disasters, which are
exacerbated by widespread inequality, human migration, climate change, increased food
prices and inadequate consumption of food. In addition, civil unrest affects Colombia and
some of the surrounding countries. Latin America and the Caribbean remains one of the most
socially and economically unequal regions of the world.
Chronic undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies, mainly anaemia, remain the most
prevalent nutrition problem in the region, linked mostly to food access and consumption
rather than availability. The FAO has reported that more than 53 million people in LAC are
undernourished. According to the Pan American Health Organization, 23 percent of children
under 5 suffer from chronic undernutrition, while iron deficiency anaemia affects 44 percent
of children under 5 and 30 percent of pregnant and lactating women (PLW).
The region is highly prone to recurrent natural disasters including flooding, drought, frost,
volcanic activity, earthquakes, El Niño/La Niña Southern Oscillation and hurricanes. Indeed,
natural disasters cause around US$7 billion worth of damage and affect an average of 4.5
million people every year in LAC, a trend which is likely to worsen because of climate
change.
WFP’s main objective in this region is to support national governments in improving food
and nutrition security and reducing the impact of emerging crises and climate change among
vulnerable populations. WFP has adopted an integrated programming approach based on the
following strategic priorities:
- support governments to strengthen the scope of social protection networks to
reduce food and nutrition insecurity;
- support governments and communities to strengthen disaster cycle management
in order to increase resilience to recurrent natural disasters and the longer-term
impact of climate change; and
- strengthen local capacities to stimulate smallholder agricultural production and
promote market development.
Regional Bureau for Latin America and the
Caribbean (ODP)
448
WFP’s priority is to enhance government capacity to implement hunger solutions through
core activities that include advocacy, facilitation of partnerships and South–South
cooperation, technical assistance, and emergency preparedness and response. Activities focus
on the development of government-led approaches that integrate investment in nutrition,
social protection and local production with a view to ensuring a comprehensive response to
undernutrition. These activities are linked with disaster cycle management and building
resilience in areas where frequent natural disasters impede progress towards food and
nutrition security. Programmatic actions fall under the three complementary categories of i)
policy support; ii) capacity development; and iii) direct assistance. WFP’s assistance in Latin
America targets the following groups that are considered to be “most vulnerable” whether in
rural or urban poverty settings:
- people impacted by conflicts and natural disasters;
- indigenous and Afro-descendent groups;
- people made food-insecure (or vulnerable to food insecurity) by the economic
crisis;
- children under 5 with a special emphasis on those under 2;
- PLWs;
- refugees and IDPs; and
- people living with HIV.
Expected Major Opportunities and Challenges
In the region, WFP is well positioned to advance the shift from food aid to food assistance
through capacity development and the provision of services to governments, who have
entrusted funds to WFP to support programmes either through direct implementation or
through capacity development activities. WFP’s credibility as an adviser and service provider
to LAC’s governments in national food security and nutrition programmes is evidenced by
the fact that trust funds in the region represent a highly significant and growing source of
funding for operations. For 2013, the estimated planning figure for country-specific trust
funds is US$66 million.
Furthermore, WFP is working to strengthen alliances with the Governments of Chile, Mexico
and Brazil for South-South cooperation on nutrition and social protection, by drawing on
expertise in enhancing the nutrition dimensions of social protection programmes. WFP has
facilitated South-South and triangular cooperation on early childhood nutrition issues
through multiple workshops with regional experts; facilitation of technical cooperation
between countries in the region; preparation of publications; and posting of technical
documents, methodologies and advocacy products on the knowledge management platform
Nutrinet.org. For instance, the Dominican Republic Government requested WFP’s technical
support to design the nutrition component of its largest “National Conditional Cash Transfer
Programme”, Solidaridad.
In countries facing recurrent natural disasters, WFP is a key partner for governments
as a provider of direct assistance for relief and recovery and also as a provider of
technical services to strengthen national capacities for early warning, preparedness and
Regional Bureau for Latin America and the
Caribbean (ODP)
449
response. In order to effectively respond to small- and medium-scale emergencies such
as localized landslides, flooding, tropical storms and hurricanes in Central America WFP has
maintained four successive sub-regional PRROs. In addition, WFP will continue to
implement the five-year Purchase for Progress (P4P) pilot initiative in Central America.
Through P4P, WFP buys stable crops from smallholder farmers to distribute through food
assistance programmes. Purchase for Progress builds the capacity of farmers’ organizations
through:
- improving the quality of their crops in order to access more profitable markets;
- supporting the local production of blended foods; and
- promoting commercial links with government programmes and other industrial
buyers as alternative market outlets for the food produced by smallholder farmers.
By raising farmers’ incomes and stimulating agricultural production, P4P addresses overall
food security. Through P4P, WFP’s local food procurement is now a vital tool for solving
long-term hunger and poverty.
The LAC region is experiencing unprecedented high international food prices, which have
increased by 40 percent in the last four years and in 2011 also reached a 30 year high. For a
region where the poor spend between 50 percent and 80 percent of their incomes on food, this
causes instability to the food security situation. Additionally, unstable funding and the lack of
technical capacity in the region continue to be the main risk for integrated programming in
the region.
The three main challenges in the LAC region are recurrent natural disasters, chronic
undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies, and the impact of high food prices on the food
and nutrition security of vulnerable populations. Inadequate feeding practices are the primary
causes of child undernutrition.
New Initiatives
WFP is enhancing the nutrition aspects of social protection programmes and is looking into
increasing the use of micronutrient powders and ready-to-use supplementary foods, and the
feasibility of producing them locally. WFP is presently finalizing the formulation of a
regional capacity development project to support a scale-up in nutrition among children 6–35
months and PLWs in Central America and the Dominican Republic.
Priorities for nutrition and food security programmes are in line with national plans to
eradicate chronic undernutrition, many of which have been developed with technical
assistance from WFP and are based on the global “Scaling Up Nutrition” policy and the
“1000 Days Movement”.
The evolution of the Central America PRRO has been an important experience that WFP is
building on. It is expected that in the next two years WFP will continue this approach in
Central America while replicating the lessons learned to develop a new Caribbean PRRO
covering the Cuba, Dominican Republic and Haiti.
Regional Bureau for Latin America and the
Caribbean (ODP)
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WFP will work with partners to establish two logistics corridors that can be utilized for rapid
response in Central America, the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Furthermore, WFP will
employ its new Forward Purchase Facility as a practical mechanism for rapidly
responding to food needs by prepositioning and rotating stocks. Additionally, strong links
will be made with the Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA)
strategies that WFP is now developing in the region. WFP is closely working with
governments in the Andean region to establish a regional initiative that addresses the
challenge of CCA, DRR, gender, food security and nutrition. A similar process will be
developed for Central American countries that are working with sub-regional organizations
on a regional approach to DRR and CCA, linked to a resilience agenda for the dry corridor
that stretches from Guatemala to Nicaragua.
Findings from the study by “Nutritional Dimension of Social Safety Nets in Central America
and the Dominican Republic” show that programmes using conditional cash transfer
modalities are aimed at poverty reduction and investment in human capital but do not
explicitly incorporate the nutritional dimension. WFP will promote greater use of cash and
vouchers (C&V), working with key partners such as the World Bank to analyse the feasibility
of using C&V initiatives to achieve nutrition outcomes in vulnerable communities
In line with the new WFP HIV Policy, WFP in the LAC region has been working to promote
the issue of nutrition on regional and national HIV policy agendas. For instance, with the
support of the Organization for the Petroleum Exporting Countries Fund for International
Development and the UNAIDS Unified Budget and Work Plan, WFP established a regional
technical team and formalized partnerships to strengthen the commitment and capacity of
governments and other key facilitators to integrate nutrition interventions with HIV treatment,
care and prevention.
ODP Beneficiaries by Project Beneficiary Needs (mt) Beneficiary Needs (US$)
PRRO 1,326,520 46,407 69,825,418
DEV 1,304,197 39,836 60,885,492
Total 2,630,717 86,244 130,710,909
2013 FORECASTED BENEFICIARY NEEDS
Regional Bureau for Latin America and the
Caribbean (ODP)
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Output results expected if projected 2013 needs are fully resourced
Female Male Total
Female Male Total
Number of Beneficiaries Impacted by HIV/AIDS 64,302 60,633 124,935
Female Male Total
Number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) 137,161 130,593 267,754
Number of Refugees 13,118 14,793 27,911
Number of Returnees 0 0 0
Number of General Food Distribution Beneficiaries 734,835 686,957 1,421,792
Female Male Total
Number of Beneficiaries of Cash/Voucher Transfers 92,213 81,579 173,792
Number of Participants in Food-for-Training Activities 33,872 31,278 65,150
Number of Participants in Food-for-Assets Activities 58,945 53,815 112,760
Girls Boys Total
Number of Children Receiving Take-Home Rations - - 0
Number of Children Receiving School Meals 275,275 272,908 548,183
of whom: Receiving Take-Home Rations and School Meals - - 0
Female Children Total
Number of Pregnant and Lactating Women and Children in
Mother-Child-Health (MCH)/Supplementary Feeding130,100 321,774 451,874
Total Number of WFP Beneficiaries in 2013 1,485,172 1,145,545 2,630,717
Forecasted Beneficiaries in 2013 in Latin America and the Caribbean
Latin America and the Caribbean
Regional Projects
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WFP Projects and Operation Foreseen in 2013
(a) Emergency Operations None
(b) Protracted Relief and Recovery Operations
Central America PRRO 200043: "Assistance to Vulnerable Groups Affected by Natural
Disasters and Other Shocks in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua"
Duration: 1 January 2011 – 30 June 2013 (Extension subject to approval. Current end-date:
31 December 2012). Follow-on project to start in July 2013 subject to approval.
Total food commitment: 15,715 mt
Food insecurity in Central America, particularly in Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and
Guatemala, is closely related to natural disasters and poverty. More than 34 million people
live in these four countries, with more than half of them living in poverty. Recurrent disasters
cause crop losses in an area where a high percentage of households depend on subsistence
farming or agricultural labour for food and income.
These four countries account for approximately 96 percent of undernourished individuals in
Central America, of which 59 percent are in Guatemala. Undernutrition among children under
5 is significantly worse in rural and indigenous areas where rates are often more than double
those in urban areas. Anaemia affects one in three children under 5 and up to 40 and 55
percent of children 6–35 months in areas of El Salvador and Guatemala, respectively.
The region continuously suffers the impact of recurrent national disasters which often have a
transnational impact and is considered among the most vulnerable regions of the world. El
Niño/La Niña Southern Oscillation, tropical depressions, hurricanes, earthquakes and
droughts have greatly weakened this region's ability to carry out long lasting activities to
improve food security. These events cause damage to infrastructure, limiting access to
markets. As a result, affected populations obtain lower harvests and income while becoming
more dependent on food purchases. Tropical Depression 12-E (TD 12-E) in October 2011 and
a regional drought in August 2012 are the most recent reminders of these situations that
seriously affect the food security of the more vulnerable groups.
Projected Beneficiary Requirements in 2013
Development Operation
Protracted Relief and Recovery Operations
Total
Cereals Pulses OilBlended
FoodOther Total
Cash/Vouchers
(US$)
Capacity
Augmentation
(US$)
DEV - - - - - - - 5,074,588
PRRO 11,549 1,733 860 1,449 124 15,715 - 249,538
Grand Total 11,549 1,733 860 1,449 124 15,715 - 5,324,126
15,406,333
26,265,951
Food Needs in mt
Needs (US$)
5,429,809
Latin America and the Caribbean
Regional Projects
453
This regional project aims to meet the immediate needs of food insecure populations affected
by successive natural disasters, to protect their livelihoods, avoid a deterioration of their
nutritional status and help their recovery efforts. Its two-pronged approach, relief and
recovery, allows WFP to react in a coordinated and flexible manner to the needs of vulnerable
groups affected by recurrent disasters. It is based on a prompt and efficient response capacity,
including prepositioning stocks in each country to enable WFP to rapidly address emergency
situations.
Through its activities, the PRRO supports MDG1 by contributing to eradicating extreme
poverty and hunger within vulnerable populations affected by climatic shocks. Its main
objectives are:
- provision of immediate relief and stabilization of acute malnutrition below
emergency levels among the most vulnerable people affected by climatic shocks
and natural disasters;
- protection of livelihoods in emergencies and early recovery; and
- support to the rehabilitation of livelihoods and food and nutrition security of
communities affected by shocks.
The current PRRO will be extended to June 2013 and a new PRRO will take over from July
2013 to 2015. The extension is needed to continue relief and recovery assistance while a
strategy is designed for a new, stronger PRRO. As recommended by a recent PRRO review
mission the new PRRO will be more focused on reinforcing national protocols, ensuring more
effective food security analysis with the possible inclusion of interventions based on cash and
vouchers and better response and recovery activities. In addition, the new PRRO will include
a stronger monitoring and evaluation component, including a lessons learned activity, a
structured, logical framework and a regional targeting approach.
(c) Development Projects and Activities
Latin America and the Caribbean Regional DEV 200141: "School Feeding Capacity
Development Project for Latin America and the Caribbean Region"
Duration: 1 January 2001 – 31 December 2013
Total project commitment: USD$3,929,650
School feeding programmes act as a safety net in support of vulnerable schoolchildren and
their families, benefiting children and the community in terms of education, health, nutrition
and income transfers to families. School feeding programmes promote local economies
through the direct procurement of food from small-scale farmers. They are also a useful
platform through which valuable complementary interventions are implemented, such as
deworming, school gardens and sanitation.
National governments in the region require support to strengthen their institutional capacities
to improve the quality and sustainability of their school feeding programmes to ensure the full
range of associated benefits reach the vulnerable population. Policy leaders and practitioners
of school feeding programmes in the region have directly requested WFP to lead a regional
Latin America and the Caribbean
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initiative to improve the required national capacity towards quality and sustainable school
feeding programmes.
A three-year, regional school feeding capacity development project is implemented to
promote the use of WFP’s Eight Quality Standards for Sustainable school feeding
programmes to identify and address quality gaps in the existing national school feeding
programmes in WFP assisted countries.
In line with WFP Strategic Objective 5, the project is being carried out through a three-phase
implementation process. Phase 1 provides government assistance to analyse capacity gaps
within their national school feeding programmes. Phase 2 will facilitate and provide technical
assistance to elaborate on national multi-sector plans to tackle the prioritized capacity gaps.
Phase 3 will focus on the implementation of these national plans in each of the 12 countries
through South-South and triangular cooperation, technical support, knowledge management
and training drawing expertise from exemplary national school feeding programmes
implemented in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Mexico.
This project is also in line with WFP’s School Feeding Policy and United Nations
Operational Guidance on Capacity Development. WFP actively integrates traditional partners
including UNICEF in the coordination of the Essential Package interventions and FAO for
school gardens.
Successful outcomes in the Dominican Republic, the first LAC country to implement the
regional project, have shown the importance of inter-sectorial collaboration. In Ecuador,
WFP, in collaboration with the World Bank, conducted a school feeding case study, of which
the main recommendation was analysing the feasibility to fortify rice in Ecuador. WFP, key
government organizations and the local governments support this initiative.
Latin America and the Caribbean Regional DEV 200271: "Scaling up Nutrition among
Children under two and Pregnant and Lactating Women in Central America and the
Dominican Republic"
Duration: 1 January 2013 – 31 December 2017 (New project – subject to approval)
Total cash commitment: US$19.5 million
In Central America and the Dominican Republic, stunting and micronutrient deficiencies are
the main nutrition problems, disproportionately impacting rural and indigenous communities.
In Central America, anemia affects 34 percent of children under 5 and 21 percent of pregnant
Latin America and the Caribbean
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and lactating women (PLW). According to demographic and health surveys, national stunting
prevalence in children under 5 are as follows: 22 percent in Belize; 6 percent percent in Costa
Rica; 19 percent in El Salvador; 50 percent in Guatemala; 30 percent in Honduras; 22 percent
in Nicaragua; 19 percent in Panama and 10 percent in the Dominican Republic. However,
these national figures mask alarming disparities within countries, especially among children
in rural areas, where stunting and anemia prevalence is almost double that of children in
urban areas.
Through this project, WFP will be actively contributing to the fight against hunger and
chronic undernutrition by developing governmental capacities at national and community
level in order to achieve the following objectives:
- strengthen national policies and programmes to increase access to and
consumption of nutritious foods among children 6–23 months and PLW in
communities with high prevalence of stunting and anaemia;
- support governments and private sector partners to increase availability and
utilization of micronutrient powders (MNPs) and low-dose lipid-based nutrient
supplement (LNS) in targeted communities, promoting local packaging and/or
production where feasible; and
- strengthen national and local capacities and alliances to design and implement
essential strategies including de-worming, behaviour change communication and
education to ensure correct utilization of MNPs and LNS as part of an integrated
approach to preventing stunting, micronutrient deficiencies, overweight and
obesity.
This project responds to a global call to action embodied in the Scaling Up Nutrition and
1,000 Days Movement, created to ensure that mothers and young children receive the right
nutrition to lead healthy and productive lives.
WFP has built credibility and technical experience as a partner in nutrition through previous
capacity development projects, as a result of the regional initiative towards the eradication of
child undernutrition in LAC. This new project was developed in full collaboration with the
Governments of Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama
and the Dominican Republic. The project is in line with WFP Strategic Objectives 4 and 5.
Latin America and the Caribbean
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(d) Special Operations None
Plurinational State of Bolivia
457
Country Background
The Plurinational State of Bolivia (Bolivia) has experienced significant
socio-political and economic change over the past six years. Despite
economic progress, the country still faces major development
challenges and ranks 108 on the 2011 UNDP Human Development
Index. Bolivia has an estimated population of 10.4 million with 51
percent living below the poverty line, of which 69 percent live in rural
areas. Rural indigenous women are particularly vulnerable: 63 percent
of rural women live in extreme poverty, while 60 percent of extremely
poor people are indigenous and almost two-thirds live in rural areas.
Inequality and exclusion are among the highest in Latin America, with
rural indigenous people particularly vulnerable to social and economic
exclusion.
Bolivia imports 60 to 80 percent of its wheat. Government measures to stabilize prices
include subsidies; importation and direct sales of staple foods such as rice, maize and sugar;
construction of large storage facilities; and control of food prices and exports. Bolivia is in
the area influenced by El Niño/La Niña Southern Oscillation and droughts and floods have
become significantly more intense and frequent since 2006. Recurrent natural disasters,
coupled with the food price crisis, have exacerbated hunger and malnutrition in Bolivia,
particularly in the most food-insecure areas. Limited access to food is the main cause of food
insecurity. High food prices and persistently low incomes prevent 45 percent of rural
households from meeting their food needs. Recurrent natural disasters and a significant
increase in El Niño/La Niña phenomena have exacerbated hunger and undernutrition. The
most vulnerable groups are women and children in rural areas, and indigenous people, who
account for 65 percent out of a population of 10 million.
The Government is confident that by 2015 Bolivia will achieve the MDG1 target of reducing
the prevalence of chronic child undernutrition (stunting) to 19 percent. However, although
stunting among children under 5 has dropped in comparison to previous years, it remains
unchanged at 39 percent in rural areas. Although the education system has made progress, net
primary school enrolment rates slipped from 94 to 90 percent between 2001 and 2008. Drop-
out rates are high, with only 25 percent of children completing the primary cycle. In 2009, a
new l Constitution was approved, with major reforms to empower excluded groups,
particularly indigenous people. The new Constitution promotes decentralization and social
participation, and recognizes the right to food as a fundamental right. The Government is also
implementing important social programmes, including conditional cash transfers for the
elderly, schoolchildren, pregnant and lactating women (PLW) and children 6–23 months.
These have been credited with reducing the number of extremely poor people, but need to be
made more accessible. In 2011, the Government passed a law on a “Productive Community-
Based Agricultural Revolution”, which promotes long-term policies to support food security
and food sovereignty. These policies include enhancing agricultural production, particularly
from small farmers; establishing food-based safety net programmes, such as school meals;
improving the storage and processing of food; introducing agricultural insurance schemes;
and improving disaster risk management and response to food-related emergencies.
Plurinational State of Bolivia
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Objectives of WFP Assistance in the Plurinational State of Bolivia
During the preparation of the country programme (CP), to start in 2013, WFP together with
the Government identified three strategic areas where WFP should concentrate its efforts in
the coming years: i) strengthening of food and nutrition interventions throughout the life
cycle, particularly for the most food-insecure populations; ii) disaster risk reduction,
humanitarian assistance and climate change adaptation; and iii) promotion of diversified food
production, dietary diversity and marketing conditions favourable to small farmers. In
addition, WFP will aim to build capacities to the Government´s food-based programmes to
ensure sustainability, provide technical assistance in emergency preparedness and response,
and assist the Government in knowledge information management for food security issues.
The CP will contribute to achieving MDGs 1, 2 and 5. Through its school meals activity, the
CP will alleviate short-term hunger and prevent micronutrient deficiencies in schoolchildren
in support of MDG2. Through its nutrition activity, the CP will improve the nutrition status of
children 6–23 months of age, and pregnant and lactating women (PLW) in support of MDG5.
Through food-for-assets (FFA) activity the CP aims to strengthen communities' resilience by
mitigating shocks and adapting to climate change by creating assets that protect communities'
livelihoods to support MDG1.
WFP Projects and Operations Foreseen in 2013
(a) Emergency Operations None
(b) Protracted Relief and Recovery Operations None
Plurinational State of Bolivia
459
(c) Development Projects and Activities
Bolivia CP 200381: "Country Programme - Bolivia (2013–2018)" Duration: 1 January 2013 – 31 December 2017 (New project – subject to approval)
Total food/capacity augmentation: 8,264 mt/US$8,558,559
The overall objective of this CP is to strengthen local and national capacities to break the
inter-generational cycle of hunger. The programme has been prepared with the Government
and focuses on three main areas:
- strengthening of food and nutrition interventions throughout the life cycle,
particularly for the most food-insecure populations;
- disaster risk reduction, humanitarian assistance and climate change adaptation;
and
- promoting diversified food production, dietary diversity and marketing conditions
favourable to small farmers. Implementation of innovative strategies based on a
community development approach will prepare municipalities to run effective
safety nets.
The CP will be implemented in the departments of Chuquisaca, Cochabamba and Potosi,
which contain 80 percent of Bolivia's most food-insecure municipalities and have the highest
prevalence of chronic undernutrition in children under 5. Target municipalities rely on
subsistence agriculture and have limited access to water, high prevalence of undernutrition
and low literacy levels; their populations are mainly indigenous people.
Bolivia CP 200381, Activity 1: "Sustainable and Productive School Feeding" Duration: 1 January 2013 – 31 December 2017 (New project – subject to approval)
Total food /capacity augmentation commitment: 4,448 mt/ US$8,558,559
The national net primary school enrolment rates decreased from 94 to 90 percent between
2001 and 2008. WFP estimates that 51 percent of school-age girls in the most food-insecure
municipalities, such as the 40 municipalities where this activity will be implemented, do not
attend school. Drop-out rates are also high, with only 25 percent of children completing the
primary cycle. In line with WFP Strategic Objectives 4 and 5, this component aims to:
- increase primary school enrolments and ensure completion;
- alleviate short-term hunger and prevent micronutrient deficiencies in
schoolchildren; and
- provide technical assistance to link farmers to markets, by using local food
products for school feeding.
As an incentive for parents to send their children to school, and to improve children's
nutrition intake, a breakfast ration will be provided to schoolchildren. The food basket
consists of vegetable oil, wheat flour, salt and MNPs. Local governments and parents
complement WFP rations with fresh food. WFP will also provide micronutrient powders
(MNPs) to ensure adequate energy and micronutrient intakes. To facilitate sustainability, this
Plurinational State of Bolivia
460
activity will gradually involve small farmers supplying food commodities to municipal
schools.
WFP will provide technical assistance and capacity development to school boards, farmers
and municipal authorities. Through work with the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of
Rural Development and Land, it is expected that by the third year of implementation,
municipalities will be providing all school rations; whenever possible, the food used will be
procured from local farmers. Local production of MNPs should also start by the third year of
the CP, with MNPs eventually being distributed through the Government's universal health
insurance plan, expected to start in 2012 covering all children up to 18 years of age.
Bolivia CP 200381, Activity 2: "Strengthening of Government Nutrition Programmes" Duration: 1 January 2013 – 31 December 2017 (New project – subject to approval)
Total food commitment: 1,296 mt
Stunting prevalence in the most food insecure municipalities, such as those where this activity
will be implemented remains higher than 47 percent. Micronutrient deficiencies have also
increased, particularly anaemia, affecting 61 percent of children under 5 and 38 percent of
women.
This component is in line with WFP Strategic Objective 4 and aims to improve the nutrition
status of PLW in selected communities of 40 municipalities in the Departments of Potosi,
Chuquisaca and Cochabamba. To complement family meals, vegetable oil and Super cereal
will be distributed to women attending health centres and receiving nutrition education, with
remote health centres prioritized for support. WFP will work with health centres and
municipalities to ensure that the Government's cash transfer programme provides both a
dietary supplement, Nutribebe, to children 6–23 months of age and the cash incentive to
PLW, as planned.
Plurinational State of Bolivia
461
Bolivia CP 200381, Activity 3: "Livelihood Development and Disaster Risk Reduction" Duration: 1 January 2013 – 31 December 2017 (New project – subject to approval)
Total food commitment: 2,520 mt
The most food-insecure municipalities are in the highlands and Andean valleys, in the
departments of Potosí, Cochabamba and Chuquisaca, where the mainly rural and indigenous
population depends on subsistence agriculture. This group experiences food deficits during
the lean season and frequent natural disasters make agriculture an unreliable source of
income. As Bolivia is in the area influenced by El Niño/ La Niña Southern Oscillation,
droughts and floods have become significantly more intense and occur more frequently. In
line with WFP Strategic Objective 2, this component seeks to:
- support the development of productive assets to enhance livelihoods and supply
local food-based safety net programmes, including through community gardens,
small livestock production, productive land reclamation, and small-scale
irrigation systems; and
- strengthen communities' resilience by mitigating shocks and adapting to climate
change by creating assets that protect communities' livelihoods - such as water
reservoirs, dykes, forestation, water harvesting infrastructure and terraces.
These activities will be implemented through FFA and complemented with FFT activities.
The family food ration will consists of wheat flour, rice, vegetable oil and beans. However,
WFP will explore the feasibility of using market-based transfers in the CP for asset creation.
Plurinational State of Bolivia
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(d) Special Operations None
Colombia
463
Country Background
Colombia is the third most populated country in Latin America, with
an estimated population of 46.6 million, of which 75 percent live in
urban areas. Despite its upper middle-income country status, Colombia
has one of the highest levels of income inequality in Latin America and
the Caribbean, ranking eighth worldwide. In 2011, the national poverty
rate was 34 percent, 16 million people, and the extreme poverty rate
was 11 percent, 5 million people. Poverty rates are higher in specific
regions and particularly among Afro-Colombian and indigenous
groups, reaching up to 46 percent in rural areas. A total of 43 percent
of the Colombian population is food insecure due to poor diversity in
the diet, chronic undernutrition and iron deficiency anaemia.
Colombia's fifty-year conflict has been hampering economic growth, threatening vital
infrastructure, displacing populations, and eroding social and cultural cohesion, at an
enormous financial cost to the Government. According to official government figures, at the
end of 2011, 3.9 million people had been displaced in Colombia. While numbers have
decreased over the past four years, there are still on average 100,000 new internally displaced
persons (IDPs) each year, of which 75 percent are women and children. Indigenous people
and Afro-Colombian groups are disproportionately affected by violence and displacement. In
2011, to address social injustices caused by the civil conflict, the Government passed the
“Victims and Land Restitution Law”, which includes a number of measures to give land to
IDPs.
Objectives of WFP Assistance in Colombia
WFP aims to protect and help restore the livelihoods of the displaced and other populations
affected by violence in Colombia by increasing their ability to meet food needs and manage
shocks. WFP provides immediate food assistance to recently displaced persons and other
vulnerable groups; supports the improvement of the nutritional status of targeted populations;
and promotes access to education for displaced and at-risk populations.
Through its PRRO, WFP contributes to reducing chronic undernutrition and iron deficiency
anaemia among IDPs and vulnerable people affected by violence and who are not covered by
government programmes. The PRRO helps to reduce gaps in assistance as well as identifying
and transferring beneficiaries in need to government programmes. The Government
contributes counterpart resources to support project activities.
WFP also works with the Government of Colombia and regional entities to assist in the
development of their Food Security and Nutrition (FSN) plans. Advocacy strategies to raise
public awareness have contributed towards the inclusion of FSN as a priority in Colombian
public policy and legislation. Two trust funds signed with the Government are funding the
following activities: provision of Super cereal; non-food items to complement food-for-assets
and food-for-training (FFA/FFT) activities; resources for capacity development activities with
implementing partners; and resources for the PRRO information and monitoring systems.
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WFP Colombia supports MDGs 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 by:
- providing food assistance to displaced persons and other vulnerable groups
affected by violence and by advocating for food and nutrition security as priorities
in the national policy agenda (MDG1);
- supporting access to education for displaced and at-risk populations (MDG2);
- promoting gender equality (MDG3);
- providing food assistance and facilitating access to health facilities of IDP
children under the age of 6 (MDG4);
- assisting and facilitating access to health facilities for pregnant and lactating IDP
women (MDG5); and
- working on the prevention of HIV (MDG6).
WFP Projects and Operations Foreseen in 2013
(a) Emergency Operations None
(b) Protracted Relief and Recovery Operations
Colombia PRRO 200148: "Integrated Approach to Address Food Insecurity Among
Highly Vulnerable Households Affected by Displacement and Violence in Colombia"
Duration: 1 January 2012 – 31 December 2013
Total food/cash and voucher commitment: 26,006 mt/US$1,905,181
This PRRO targets new IDPs and other persons affected by violence facing severe food
insecurity, particularly Afro-Colombian, indigenous groups and moderately food insecure
IDPs who have been displaced for a long time and/or are in the process of returning to their
places of origin. This PRRO is in line with WFP Strategic Objectives 1 and 3. The PRRO has
the following objectives:
- provide a comprehensive emergency assistance package and link them to
government programmes (WFP Strategic Objective 1);
- address micronutrient deficiencies, especially iron deficiency anaemia in children
and prevent a further deterioration of their nutritional condition (WFP Strategic
Objective 1);
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- support IDP children and those at risk of displacement in accessing primary
school education, and violence-affected children returning to school in remote
targeted areas, through emergency school meals (WFP Strategic Objective 1); and
- support the recovery and rehabilitation of vulnerable populations affected by
displacement and violence by strengthening livelihoods and asset-bases for self-
sufficiency, and fostering their inclusion into national social protection
programmes (WFP Strategic Objective 3).
The operation aims to create conditions for a more sustainable process of recovery and
rehabilitation by providing an integral package of assistance focused on the household,
through the entire process from relief to recovery for up to a one year period.
Initial emergency food distributions are accompanied by support for school-aged children,
adolescents, pregnant and lactating women and children under 5. Vouchers guarantee
pregnant and lactating women's access to a more diversified food basket that includes animal
protein and vegetables. In line with government programmes, during the 12 month cycle,
households benefit from work and training opportunities that are made available at specific
times, allowing for income generation activities. Extremely vulnerable indigenous households
benefit from a differentiated approach through community-based activities to meet their
specific needs. Moderately food insecure persons displaced in the longer term, who have high
dependency ratios, participate in FFA/FFT activities as they move towards self-sufficiency.
The food basket consists of rice, pulses, vegetable oil, wheat flour and sugar. In addition,
children receive bienestarina (high-energy wheat/soy mix provided by the Government) and
micronutrient powders.
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(c) Development Projects and Activities None
(d) Special Operations None
Cuba
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Country Background
Cuba, the largest of the Caribbean islands, has a population of 11.2
million, of which 75 percent live in urban areas. Although the country
is ranked 51 on the 2011 UNDP Human Development Index, Cuba has
to import 80 percent of its national food requirements. A significant
amount of the imports are channelled to the country's extensive food-
based social safety net, which includes the provision of a highly
subsidized monthly food basket to every Cuban citizen. This basket
covers approximately 50 percent of an average Cuban's daily food
requirements; the remaining needs must be covered from other sources,
the variety of which has become very limited.
The average Cuban's daily diet is poor in micronutrients. According to studies conducted by
the Institute of Nutrition and Food Hygiene in 2008, the prevalence of anaemia in the eastern
region was 40 percent among children under 2 and 12 percent among children between 2 to 5
years of age. The Cuban Government considers the high rates of anaemia as a major public
health problem and has therefore launched a National Plan for the Prevention and Control of
Anaemia (NPPCA) based on iron supplementation, food fortification, food diversification and
nutritional education.
Cuba has yet to fully recover from the severe crisis of the 1990s. The combined effects of the
global financial crisis, the losses caused by the 2008 hurricane season, the increase in global
food prices as well as low productivity levels, have plunged the country into a new financial
crisis affecting Cuba's social safety nets. In response, the Government approved a package of
more than 300 reforms in 2011 to modify its economic model, including the reduction of the
government-employed labour force by 20 percent and cutting social benefits and state
subsidies. Increasing domestic production of food, in particular, is a strategic priority in order
to substitute imports. In 2011, Cuba spent more than US$1.8 billion on food imports, which is
financially unsustainable. The country faces significant challenges to overcome the current
crisis as well as challenges arising from structural challenges. In addition, Cuba's geographic
location is prone to frequent hurricanes, alternating with droughts, the last of which was
caused by almost three years of poor rains resulting in limited national food production in the
first half of 2012.
Objectives of WFP Assistance in Cuba
WFP in Cuba has two projects focused on assisting the Government in its efforts to become
self-reliant in the local production of fortified foods to address micronutrient deficiencies, a
development project and a trust fund.
Under the development project, WFP provides nutritional support by distributing Supercereal
and providing capacity development. The latter component aims to: (i) create access to a
more affordable food basket; (ii) establish the production of enriched blended flour; (iii)
improve household consumption patterns; (iv) enhance food and nutritional surveillance; and,
(v) improve logistical capacities.
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Through a multiagency trust fund, WFP is implementing a joint programme with UNDP,
FAO, UNICEF and WHO to support the NPPCA by increasing food availability as well as
physical and economic access to micronutrient-rich food for children under 5 and pregnant
and lactating women (PLW). This programme also aims to strengthen food and nutrition
surveillance.
These activities support MDGs 1, 4 and 5 and are in line with the 2008-2013 UNDAF. By
improving the nutritional habits of beneficiaries, the development project helps to eradicate
extreme poverty and hunger supporting MDG1. By contributing to the reduction of anaemia
prevalence amongst children, the joint programme directly addresses the reduction of child
mortality to achieve MDG4; and by improving maternal health and contributing to improved
feeding habits of PLW, WFP operations directly address MDG5.
WFP Projects and Operations Foreseen in 2013
(a) Emergency Operations None
(b) Protracted Relief and Recovery Operations None
(c) Development Projects and Activities
Cuba DEV 105890: "Support for the National Plan on the Prevention and Control of
Anaemia in the Five Eastern Provinces of Cuba"
Duration: 1 January 2008 – 31 December 2013 (Extension subject to approval. Current end-
date 31 December 2012)
Total food/capacity augmentation commitment: 12,691 mt/US$43,878 (Including expected
budget revision. Currently approved: 10,889 mt)
WFP’s current operation is designed to assist the Government in its efforts to become self-
reliant in the local production of fortified foods to address micronutrient deficiencies. This
project is in line with WFP Strategic Objectives 4 and 5and supports many of the objectives
of the Government’s NPPCA. The following direct outcomes are expected to be achieved:
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- improved nutritional status of targeted girls and boys aged 6 months to 5 years by
providing supplementary feeding;
- broadening of the national policy framework, incorporating hunger solutions by
enhancing food and nutritional surveillance; and
- increased production capacity of fortified foods, including complementary foods
and special nutritional products by establishing the production of enriched
blended flour and improving logistic capacities.
This project is jointly funded through WFP regular resources and extra-budgetary resources
mobilized by the Government and WFP. It was approved originally for a period of five years,
from 2008 to 2013. However, with the new UNDAF starting on 1 January 2014, and given
the existing needs in the country, an extension of the development project is required to
bridge the remaining period. Meanwhile, an intervention strategy in line with the new
UNDAF framework will be developed. In 2013, with regular resources confirmed, under the
supplementary feeding activity focused on the prevention and reduction of anaemia, WFP
will provide: 50 g of Supercereal to children under the age of 3 in the 54 municipalities of the
eastern region and 60 sprinkle sachets twice a year to children 12-24 months in municipalities
with higher anaemia prevalence.
(d) Special Operations None
Dominican Republic
470
Country Background The Dominican Republic is a low-middle income country with a
population of 9.8 million people and ranks 98 on the 2011 UNDP
Human Development Index. According to the World Bank, the poverty
rate is 51 percent for 2012 due to significant income inequalities. The
infant mortality rate is 32 out of 1,000 live births, mostly due to acute
respiratory and intestinal infections, and almost 50 percent of
schoolchildren do not make it to secondary school.
The food security and nutrition situation is characterized by persistent
poverty, lack of dietary diversity, micronutrient deficiencies, deficient
quality of public health services, and natural and economic shocks.
Maternal breastfeeding levels remain one of the lowest in the Latin America and Caribbean
region at 8 percent. Undernourishment continues to be a serious problem. The “2011 FAO
State of Food Insecurity Report” registers the proportion of undernourished people at 24
percent of the total population (2.3 million people). The national prevalence rate for chronic
undernutrition stands at 10 percent. However, many provinces and municipalities show rates
two to three times higher than the national average. The prevalence of iron deficiency is the
most significant nutrition issue at national level: 32 percent of pregnant and lactating women
pass it down to their children of whom, 30 percent show signs of iron deficiency.
Key challenges for the sustainable development of the Dominican Republic include:
persistent high levels of poverty and inequality; deficient electrical power sector; and
diminished confidence in government policies. Furthermore, the Dominican Republic is
highly prone to the effects of natural disasters including hurricanes, tropical storms and
earthquakes, which have serious impacts on the country's social and economic infrastructure.
Objectives of WFP Assistance in the Dominican Republic
Note: While WFP Dominican Republic does not have any projects under the traditional WFP
project categories, WFP is providing assistance in Dominican Republic as described below.
WFP assistance in the Dominican Republic supports the Government in strengthening its
national capacities in the areas of development and emergency situations to ensure the food
and nutritional security of the most vulnerable groups and poverty struck areas. Assistance is
in line with 2010–2030 National Development Strategy. WFP further supports the
enhancement of national social protection and public health programmes with a nutrition
dimension and the development of public policies aimed at ensuring food and nutritional
security. WFP helps strengthen the capacity of government national emergency response
structures. WFP activities contribute directly to MDGs 1, 2, 4 and 5.
WFP’s action on micronutrient deficiencies and malnutrition in Dominican Republic is
accomplished through a trust fund with the Government's Social Policy Cabinet, for which
WFP has developed a nutrition component for the Government’s policies, Programa
Solidaridad (Solidarity Programme) and Cerrando Brechas (Closing the Gaps). Under this
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nutrition component micronutrient powders (MNP) are distributed to children from 6 to 59
months of age in 1,124 community health centres.
This activity is implemented through the support of 1,200 primary health care units
nationwide. WFP provides capacity development to 3,142 medical and government staff. In
line with MDG1, it also promotes the consumption of MNP and behaviour change regarding
nutrition habits through a nutrition counselling network. The trust fund also addresses gaps
within the Ministry of Health by supporting increased attendance of children and families to
local health centres. This strengthens community programmes for nutrition counselling,
monitors growth of children aged 0 to 5 years and prenatal care for pregnant and lactating
women, supporting MDG 4 and 5. The programme also helps distribute de-worming
medication for children and adults, and calcium for pregnant women.
In addition, WFP supports MDG2 by providing technical assistance to the National School
Feeding Programme, which includes identifying nutrition gaps and the development of an
improvement plan based on the eight quality standards formulated by WFP and the World
Bank. WFP, FAO and local policymakers are supporting the Government in developing a
national food and nutritional security law, which has been drafted through a series of regional
open forums, and national consultations with academia, community and government
stakeholders. Other activities include technical assistance for nutrition counselling people
living with HIV at public health centres and strengthening national capacity to respond to
emergency situations by improving logistics protocols and safeguards.
WFP Projects and Operations Foreseen in 2013
(a) Emergency Operations None
(b) Protracted Relief and Recovery Operations None
(c) Development Projects and Activities None
(d) Special Operations None
Ecuador
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Country Background
Ecuador is the fourth least populated country in South America with 14
million people of which 67 percent live in urban areas. It is a country
of great social, cultural, geographical and demographic diversity, with
inequality and exclusion continuing to exacerbate social problems.
Increasing immigration and influx of refugees from Colombia have
increased social divisions and inequalities in the country. According to
the 2011 United Nations Human Development Report, the richest ten
percent of the population receives 43 percent of the total income while
the poorest ten percent receive only one percent. Ecuador is
categorized as an emerging and developing economy by the
International Monetary Fund. The country is ranked 83 on the 2011
UNDP Human Development Index.
Ecuador consists of 24 provinces and is divided into four main regions: the coastal plain,
inter-Andean central highlands, eastern Amazonian jungle and the Galapagos Islands.
Frequent earthquakes, landslides, volcanic activity, floods and periodic droughts are common
phenomena, severely affecting the poor and most vulnerable population. Fourteen percent of
the population is engaged in the agriculture sector. In urban areas, the poorest of the
population is employed in the informal sector, often as day labourers in informal commerce
and construction.
Malnutrition is a major public health issue in Ecuador, reflected in both the number of
children under 5 suffering from chronic undernutrition, as well as in adults and children under
5 with micronutrient deficiencies. The stunting rate is at 29 percent in children under the age
of 5. The levels of anaemia are the highest in the Latin American and Caribbean region,
affecting 62 percent of children within the same age group. In general, in poor rural areas,
diets are very restricted and lack sufficient proteins and micronutrients. This situation is more
complex in indigenous families, where problems regarding child care, feeding, and access to
basic health care, water and sanitation are common. Violence against women, and their
exclusion from decision making and formal markets further complicates the situation.
Ecuador receives the highest number of Colombian refugees in the region. As of July 2012,
there were 140,000 Colombians in Ecuador in need of international protection, of which 20
percent have never approached an institution to register. The negative spill-over effects from
the prolonged internal armed conflict in Colombia continue to strain local and provincial
resources, creating social tensions with host communities. The increasing influx of refugees is
expected to continue.
Objectives of WFP Assistance in Ecuador
Through a PRRO, WFP assistance in Ecuador focuses on improving the food and nutrition
security of the vulnerable population, including refugees and asylum seekers living in areas
prone to chronic undernutrition and affected by natural disasters and climate change. WFP
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supports eight provinces with high concentrations of refugees. Interventions are in line with
government social protection policies and the Ecuadorian Constitution.
WFP also strengthens emergency preparedness and response activities within Ecuador and in
the Andean region by helping to develop protocols for early response for the National
Secretariat of Risk Management, and by maintaining response capacity through the WFP
Humanitarian Assistance Logistics Centre should Ecuador or another government in the
region require support.
Under a trust fund, WFP has begun the implementation of a food security and nutrition
capacity development project that supports local governments' efforts to link smallholder
production with public and private sector markets and helps strengthen nutrition training. To
date, there is little empirical evidence showing the benefits and cost-effectiveness of home-
grown school feeding programmes. In light of this, WFP plans to conduct an impact
evaluation to assess the impact of the project on children's nutritional status, school
achievement and small farmers' incomes. This research would be conducted in Ecuador and
would be the first in Latin America conducted by WFP, it would contribute to strengthening
the evidence base in this field. The Government of Ecuador is conscious of the effects of
climate change on the country and is committed to climate change adaptation. In this context,
through another trust fund, WFP is collaborating with the Government to reduce
vulnerabilities related to food and nutrition security due to adverse effects of climate change
in the most vulnerable locations of Pichincha Province and the Jubones River Basin.
WFP contributes to achieving MDGs 1, 3, 4 and 7. By supporting the livelihoods of farmers
and improving the security situation of the most vulnerable households, WFP works towards
achieving MDG1. MDG3 is supported through the PRRO, which systematically promotes
gender equality in its activities. WFP supports MDG4 by assisting the local school feeding
programme, and by providing assistance in environmentally sustainable farming practices
WFP works towards achieving MDG7.
WFP Projects and Operations Foreseen in 2013
(a) Emergency Operations None
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(b) Protracted Relief and Recovery Operations
Ecuador PRRO 200275: "Assistance to Refugees and Persons Affected by the Conflict
in Colombia"
Duration: 1 July 2011 – 30 June 2014
Total food/cash and voucher commitment: 5,565 mt/US$2,969,364
The PRRO integrates assistance models with an approach to diffuse tensions between
Colombian refugees and Ecuadorian communities. It operates in the areas of Carchi,
Esmeraldas, Imbabura, Sucumbios, Orellana, Pichincha, Santo Domingo, Azuay, Guayas,
with special attention to the three provinces along the northern border (Carchi, Esmeraldas,
and Sucumbios). In line with WFP Strategic Objectives 1 and 3, the PRRO has the following
specific objectives: to improve the food consumption of new asylum seekers and the most
vulnerable and dependent Colombian refugees in Ecuador, without creating tensions between
Colombian refugees and the Ecuadorian population; and to rebuild sustainable livelihoods
and the food and nutrition security of Colombian refugees and Ecuadorians, with a special
focus on women and those most affected by the conflict in Colombia.
In order to achieve these objectives, the project includes two components. The relief
component is based on general food distribution for newly arrived Colombian refugees and
asylum seekers in order to ensure that their immediate food needs are adequately met. It also
includes relief assistance in the form of protection and humanitarian support provided by
partners, as well as conflict mitigation, which ensures that food assistance does not create
tensions in Ecuadorian communities with high concentrations of recently-arrived Colombian
refugees. WFP supports socially inclusive and short-term food-for-assets and food-for-
training (FFA/FFT) activities in line with traditional communal cooperatives, known as
mingas, to involve all vulnerable members of the community regardless of nationality.
The recovery component includes neighbourhood and community integration activities.
Examples of these activities are: school-based community activities, food and nutrition
trainings, local production of nutritious foods and the protection of watersheds and water
resources. This operation pays particular attention to the needs of women and refugees by
systematically promoting gender equality, the empowerment of women and actions that
reduce tensions among all vulnerable groups.
The project targets three main beneficiary groups: i) asylum seekers and persons in need of
international assistance and protection; ii) vulnerable refugee groups unable to re-establish
their livelihoods in Ecuador; and iii) Ecuadorian communities with a high concentration of
refugees. The food basket is composed of rice, wheat flour, vegetable oil and pulses. The food
ration is complemented with a US$20 per family food voucher that contributes the equivalent
of 700 kcal per individual per day, which can be exchanged for nutritious food in pre-selected
local markets. The voucher is not distributed among school feeding beneficiaries. Family
food rations for FFA/FFT activities and for vulnerable groups provide 720 kcal per day per
person. The school feeding ration covers a third of the kilocalorie needs of children on a daily
basis for 220 days, complemented by fruits, vegetables and other nutritious foods, produced
in family or school vegetable gardens.
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(c) Development Projects and Activities None
(d) Special Operations None
El Salvador
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Country Background
El Salvador is a low-medium income country with a population of 6
million people. It is the most densely populated country in the
Americas and is ranked 105 out of 187 on the 2011 UNDP Human
Development Index. However, 35 percent of the population live in
poverty due to extreme inequality in the distribution of wealth. The
ever increasing foreign debt of US$12.95 billion, which represents 52
percent of the GDP, presents difficulties for the Government to sustain
its budgetary commitments to social programmes. Compounding the
situation further is the widespread poverty that threatens the food
security situation of vulnerable populations. The undernutrition rate for
children under 5 stands at 19 percent at the national level and this
figure doubles in the most vulnerable municipalities of El Salvador. The country is highly
dependent on imports and remittances, making the poorest groups highly vulnerable to
external shocks. El Salvador is also a net importer of staple grains, making the country
vulnerable to economic or natural shocks that have a direct upward effect on relevant prices.
The country is also highly susceptible to natural disasters, ranking ten out of 173 countries on
the 2011 World Risk Report and 23 out of 182 countries in the 2012 Global Climate Risk
Index. The country experienced major and recurrent disasters such as the Tropical Depression
12-E in 2011, which caused US$840 million in damages and losses, equal to 4 percent of the
GDP. These economic and natural shocks have had a negative impact on the availability and
access to food. For instance, the Ministry of Agriculture indicated that Tropical Depression
12-E affected up to 263,518 producers of maize, beans and sorghum, leading to a loss of up to
72,000 mt of production with a value of US$55 million at current local prices. In mid-2012,
La Niña phenomenon caused a meteorological drought affecting the eastern region of the
country, negatively affecting the production of maize at the national level.
Objectives of WFP Assistance in El Salvador
WFP assistance in El Salvador is in line with the framework of the 2012–2016 Country
Strategy Document. WFP’s support also contributes to the MDGs and the 2010– 2014
National Development Plan by supporting the Government in ensuring the food and
nutritional security of the population, prioritizing vulnerable population groups. WFP seeks to
contribute in three areas: i) improving social protection for the vulnerable population through
food and nutrition-based interventions; ii) strengthening disaster risk mitigation through
support for information, early warning systems, climate change adaptation and food
emergency response mechanisms; and iii) strengthening smallholder agriculture and
associated market development.
The regional PRRO addresses food insecurity caused by these natural disasters through food
assistance to affected families, including food for assets and food for training (FFA/FFT)
during the early recovery phase.
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WFP’s activities, implemented through trust fund initiatives and programmes, contribute
directly to MDGs 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. WFP supports MDGs 1, 2 and 3 by providing technical and
capacity development support for the National School Feeding Programme, which includes a
pilot programme involving women-led microenterprises supplying ready-to-eat meals for full-
time schools. Through the Purchase-for-Progress initiative, WFP helps link smallholder
farmers’ organizations to procurement activities under the emergency response, such as
nutrition and school meals activities and new initiatives such as the National Food Reserve,
which support MDG 1. WFP works towards MDGs 4 and 5 by implementing food and
nutrition training coupled with food assistance for children under 5 and pregnant and lactating
mothers. This training falls under the “Nourishing El Salvador” project, which has funding
support from the private sector. Furthermore, WFP contributes to MDGs 4 and 5 through its
support of the “Inter-Agency Programme on Children and Food and Nutrition Security”,
which focuses on food and nutrition training for decision makers at the national and local
level. WFP facilitates a Food and Nutritional Security Information and Monitoring System
and also implements activities that promote environmental sustainability and disaster risk
reduction, including strengthening emergency preparedness and response capacities at the
national and local levels.
Other regional activities include the development of the Early Warning System for Central
America, a Forward Purchase Facility and the management of the WFP Regional Centre for
Humanitarian Response for Central America. These efforts provide assistance to El Salvador
and other disaster-affected countries in the region. Future activities under consideration
include:
- a climate change adaptation project focusing on food security and nutrition of
small agricultural producers in El Salvador's dry corridor;
- a national food reserve project to support the Ministry of Agriculture in
establishing a national reserve of staple grains. Such a structure would protect
food-insecure families from food price increases while linking smallholder
farmers to markets through the purchase of their surpluses;
- a smart agriculture project aimed at increasing smallholder farmer productivity
through an agro-business model including loans, insurance policy, technical
assistance to farmers’ associations and marketing services. These activities will be
aligned with national policies and programmes; and
- a national nutrition education project for vulnerable groups that includes the use
of local fortified foods.
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WFP Projects and Operations Foreseen in 2013
(a) Emergency Operations None
(b) Protracted Relief and Recovery Operations
Central America Regional PRRO 200043: "Assistance to Vulnerable Groups Affected
by Natural Disasters and Other Shocks in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and
Nicaragua" Duration: 1 January 2011–30 June 2013 (Extension subject to approval. Current end-date: 31
December 2012. Follow-on project to start in July 2013, subject to approval)
Total food/capacity augmentation commitment: 7,857 mt/US$49,500 (For the El Salvador
component of the PRRO)
This regional PRRO aims to meet the immediate needs of food-insecure populations affected
by successive natural disasters, to protect their livelihoods, avoid a deterioration of their
nutritional status and help their recovery efforts. It is based on a prompt and efficient
response capacity, including pre-positioning and use of contingency stocks in each country to
enable WFP to rapidly address emergency situations. A six-month extension of this project
seeks to focus on pre-positioning food for medium-sized emergencies usually occurring in the
second half of the year and assist with early recovery activities as a result of emergencies
occurring both in the current year and the end of the previous year. In addition, although
historically natural disasters have occurred more frequently during the second half of the year,
the PRRO enables WFP to be ready to assist immediately in the event of a sudden emergency.
In line with Strategic Objectives 1 and 3, the main objectives of the PRRO are to:
- provide immediate relief and stabilize of acute malnutrition below emergency
levels among the most vulnerable people affected by climatic shocks and natural
disasters;
- protect livelihoods in emergencies and early recovery; and
- support the rehabilitation of livelihoods, and food and nutrition security of
communities affected by shocks.
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This PRRO comprises two main components: relief and recovery. The relief component
provides immediate emergency response through general food distributions (GFD) in order to
save lives, avoid deterioration of nutritional status and prevent the use of negative coping
strategies by the most vulnerable populations. Blanket supplementary feeding for children
under 2 is also used as a preventive measure to stabilize acute malnutrition rates in this
particularly vulnerable group. The recovery component assists with early recovery activities
to increase household income and rehabilitate community infrastructure and agricultural
production capacities through FFA and FFT interventions.
The PRRO targets the most vulnerable people. This group includes those displaced and in
shelters, families who have lost their homes, households that depend on subsistence
agriculture and have lost more than 50 percent of their crops and families with very limited
access to food. The food basket is composed of cereals, pulses, vegetable oil, salt, blended
food and sugar.
A new PRRO, subject to approval, will start operations in July 2013. It will follow the same
strategy as the current PRRO but with a more effective approach for response and recovery
activities as well as the possible inclusion of cash and voucher activities.
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(c) Development Projects and Activities None
(d) Special Operations None
Guatemala
481
Country Background
Guatemala has a population of 14.7 million people and ranks
131 out of 187 countries on the 2011 UNDP Human
Development Index. Guatemala has a gross national income
per capita of US$2,740, and is ranked among the highest in
the world in terms of unequal income distribution. Fifty-three
percent of the population live in poverty and 13 percent in
extreme poverty. The most vulnerable groups are indigenous
women, girls and boys living in the highlands and the "dry
corridor"; a semi-arid zone with continuous periods of droughts, degraded soils and low
agricultural yields. Illiteracy is 25 percent and reaches 59 percent among indigenous women.
The chronic undernutrition rate for children under 5 is 50 percent, which is the highest in the
region and the sixth highest in the world. Chronic undernutrition in indigenous rural areas
reaches 70 percent. The President of the Republic, Otto Perez Molina, launched the “Zero
Hunger Plan”, which intends to coordinate interventions, public policies, plans and projects
on food security and nutrition by public institutions, with a special emphasis on developing
the capacities of local governments at the municipal level. The objectives and goals of the
“Zero Hunger Plan” are to:
- reduce the prevalence of chronic malnutrition in children under 5 by 10 percent,
by the end of 2015, promoting early childhood development;
- prevent and reduce child mortality under 5 years, related to acute malnutrition;
- promote food security and nutrition, and
- prevent and attend food-related climate change and natural disaster emergencies.
The economy of Guatemala has deteriorated. The global economic crisis has reduced the
influx of remittances, exports, foreign investment, tourism revenues, as well as access to
credit, increasing the Government's budget deficit and unemployment. Moreover, Guatemala
is prone to recurrent disasters. Climate risks including the direct effects of rain and storm and
drought have increased in Guatemala in recent years. According to a study on climate change
and biodiversity, the El Niño phenomenon, which historically occurred once in 10 years, is
now observed once in 3 and a half years. It has reduced staple grain production and changed
patterns of rainfall, increasing the risk of drought, landslides, mudslides and flooding.
Objectives of WFP Assistance in Guatemala
WFP in Guatemala focuses on improving the nutritional status of mothers and children under
5, reducing food insecurity and improving the living conditions of vulnerable groups through
climate change adaptation practices and increased agricultural productivity.
The regional PRRO addresses food insecurity caused by natural disasters through food
assistance to affected families, including food for assets and food for training (FFA/FFT)
during the early recovery phase. It provides a structure for emergency preparedness and
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response and disaster risk reduction activities. A new regional PRRO starting mid-2013 will
continue supporting food insecure families affected by recurrent shocks.
The country programme (CP) aims to reduce chronic undernutrition, improve the livelihoods
of subsistence farmers, promote smallholder farmers' access to markets through Purchase for
Progress (P4P) activities and strengthen the capacities of governmental institutions to
improve effectiveness of food-based interventions. The CP is complemented with a P4P trust
fund (2009–2013) that is supported by a private donor. Purchase for Progress connects
smallholder farmers to markets through technical assistance, improved quality, access to
credit and inputs, and development of organizational and leadership capacities. WFP
purchases maize and beans from these farmers' organizations to supply its activities.
Through a development project, WFP builds capacities to adapt and overcome global climatic
change and improve food and nutritional security in degraded areas in the “dry corridor” of
Guatemala. Communities and households increase their capacity in terms of knowledge skills
and cash programmes that enable communities to create physical assets, allowing them to
manage their water, land and forest resources in a sustainable way, while increasing,
improving and diversifying their agricultural production as well as their income. WFP
contributes to achieving MDGs 1, 3, 4, 5 and 7. It supports MDG1 by providing food
assistance to improve the food security situation of the most vulnerable households affected
by crisis, additionally it supports MDG7 as subsistence farmers are trained to improve their
living conditions and livelihoods with environmentally-friendly practices. Supplementary
feeding to children and pregnant and lactating women (PLW) is provided to break the
intergenerational transmission of chronic undernutrition; supporting MDG1. In addition, WFP
supports MDGs 4 and 5 through food incentives which motivate women to take their children
to health centres, thus increasing the health coverage of children and their mothers. WFP’s
mother-and-child health intervention supports MDG3 as it reinforces gender equality and
women empowerment.
WFP Projects and Operations Foreseen in 2013
(a) Emergency Operations None
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(b) Protracted Relief and Recovery Operations
Central America Regional PRRO 200043: "Assistance to Vulnerable Groups Affected
by Natural Disasters and Other Shocks in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and
Nicaragua" Duration: 1 January 2011 – 30 June 2013 (Extension subject to approval. Current end-date:
31 December 2012. Follow-on project to start in July 2013, subject to approval)
Total food/ capacity augmentation commitment: 7,857 mt/US$54,500 (for the Guatemala
component)
In recent years, high food prices, the global economic crisis, droughts caused by El Niño
phenomenon, volcanic eruptions, and excessive rainfall and flooding have further
compromised the already precarious food security situation in Guatemala. The regional
project aims to meet the immediate needs of food insecure populations affected by successive
natural disasters, to protect their livelihoods, avoid a deterioration of their nutritional status
and help their recovery efforts. It is based on a prompt and efficient response capacity,
including prepositioning and use of contingency stocks in each country to enable WFP to
rapidly address emergency situations. This six-month extension seeks to focus on
prepositioning food for medium sized emergencies usually occurring in the second half of the
year and to assist with early recovery activities as a result of emergencies occurring in both
the current year and end of the previous year. In addition, and although historically natural
disasters have occurred more frequently during the second part of the year, the PRRO is ready
to immediately assist in the event of a sudden emergency.
In line with WFP Strategic Objective 1 and 3, the PRRO’s main objectives are:
- provision of immediate relief and stabilization of acute malnutrition below
emergency levels among the most vulnerable people affected by climatic shocks
and natural disasters;
- protection of livelihoods in emergencies and early recovery; and
- support the rehabilitation of livelihoods and food and nutrition security of
communities affected by shocks.
This PRRO comprises two main components: relief and recovery. The relief component
provides immediate emergency response through general food distributions (GFD) in order to
save lives, avoid the deterioration of the nutritional status and prevent the use of negative
coping strategies by the most vulnerable populations. Blanket supplementary feeding for
children under 2 is also used as a preventive measure to stabilize acute malnutrition rates in
this particularly vulnerable group. The recovery component assists with early recovery
activities to increase household income and rehabilitate community infrastructure and
agricultural productive capacities through FFA and FFT interventions.
The PRRO targets the most vulnerable people. This group includes those displaced and in
shelters, families who have lost their homes, households that depend on subsistence
agriculture and have lost more than 50 percent of their crops and families with very limited
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access to food The food basket is composed of cereals, pulses, vegetable oil, salt, blended
food and sugar.
A new PRRO, which, subject to approval, will start operations in July 2013, will follow the
same strategy as the current PRRO but with a more effective approach to response and
recovery activities as well as the possible inclusion of cash and voucher activities.
(c) Development Projects and Activities
Guatemala CP 200031: "Country Programme - Guatemala (2010 – 2014)"
Duration: 1 January 2010 – 31 December 2014
Total food/capacity augmentation commitment: 21,368 mt/US$28,818,204
The objective of this CP is to reduce chronic undernutrition and food insecurity of the most
vulnerable people in targeted areas. This CP supports government policies related to reducing
undernutrition, namely, the “Agricultural Policy”, the “Promotion and the Integral
Development of Women Policy” and the “National Programme for Disaster Prevention and
Mitigation”. It is in line with the 2010–2014 United Nations Development Assistance
Framework, which prioritizes addressing food insecurity and chronic undernutrition. Through
its four activities this CP seeks to:
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- reduce chronic undernutrition among children 6–36 months through GFD
activities;
- rebuild and improve livelihoods for subsistence farmers affected by recurrent
shocks with FFA and FFT activities to increase agricultural production;
- connect smallholder and low-income farmers with potential surpluses with
markets through P4P, increasing incomes and enhancing food security; and
- enhance government capacities to implement food-based assistance programmes,
reduce micronutrient deficiencies, improve the nutrition of people living with
HIV and enhance emergency preparedness and response.
The CP continues to build on partnerships with the Government, local institutions, other
United Nations agencies and cooperating partners.
Guatemala CP 200031, Activity 1: "Reduce Chronic Undernutrition" Duration: 1 January 2010 – 31 December 2014
Total food commitment: 8,203 mt
Through this activity, WFP provides access to blended food, Vitacereal, to children 6–36
months and PLW and micronutrient powders (MNP) to children that attend health posts and
community centres in rural areas. As a condition to receive the Vitacereal, beneficiaries must
participate in nutrition, health and hygiene trainings. This is supported with a behaviour
change communication strategy – training mothers as counsellors to facilitate mother-to-
mother support groups and through home visits in their communities.
The Ministry of Health, through its institutional services and other NGOs working on the
extended coverage programme, is responsible for growth monitoring and nutrition
surveillance. WFP provides technical and logistics assistance to government institutions
responsible for social programmes to address the reduction of chronic undernutrition. WFP
also explores the feasibility of delivering blended food through the commercial sector in
selected areas where the government programme is operational. In support of WFP Strategic
Objective 4 and 5, the outcomes of this activity are:
- improved nutritional status of targeted women and children;
- increased adoption of appropriate health care, nutrition and hygiene practices;
- increased use of basic health services;
- improved operational distribution systems; and
- behaviour change communication strategy in operation.
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Guatemala CP 200031, Activity 2: "Improve Livelihoods of Subsistence Farmers"
Duration: 1 January 2010 – 31 December 2014
Total food commitment: 12,960 mt
Through this activity, WFP seeks to complement the Government's agricultural policy by
improving the livelihoods of subsistence farmers’ households by promoting sustainable
livelihoods through FFA and FFT modalities. The targeting criteria for participants is as
follows: households with less than one hectare of arable land, few natural assets, no irrigation,
limited literacy levels, little knowledge of best agricultural practices, restricted or no access to
physical or financial capital and poor production of staple grains.
Food for Assets activities build on opportunities for improved agricultural techniques in the
production of staple grains, home gardens, tree nurseries and forestry, the prevention of
degradation of natural resources, terraces, small irrigation projects, organic fertilizer, and
climate change adaptation activities. The Ministry of Agriculture, municipalities, FAO and
local NGOs provide technical assistance and training. Farmers provide agricultural tools, such
as pickaxes to work the productive systems (maize fields and gardens/households), and to
work the land with soil and water management strategies through FFA activities. WFP has
trained national counterpart staff and partners in order to support thematic FFT sessions
relating to empowerment and leadership of women including productive issues for gender
equality. The food basket for this component includes maize, vegetable oil, pulses and
Supercereal. In line with WFP Strategic Objective 3, the outcomes of this activity are:
- increased agricultural production.
- enhanced subsistence farmers' household resilience of climate change adaptation.
- production of staple food (maize and beans) available for beneficiaries’ own
consumption.
- food-for-assets activities and enhanced capacities of government institutions in
managing and implementing the national plan to reduce micronutrient
deficiencies; and
- activities that support households with rations.
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Guatemala CP 200031, Activity 3: "Purchase for Progress"
Duration: 1 January 2010 – 31 December 2014
Total capacity augmentation commitment: US$2,899,700
WFP works to improve the quantity and quality of maize and beans produced by
smallholder/low-income farmers, reducing post-harvest losses and selling surpluses to the
market thus improving farmers' income. This activity is implemented in partnership with
government ministries, national institutes, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on
Agriculture and FAO.
Project activities include the establishment of demonstration plots and technical assistance
throughout the crop cycle, training and workshops on organizational capacity, post-harvest
management, basic management, finance, credit, accounting, marketing, market information,
development of business plans and alliances to establish secure buyer contracts as well as
sessions on self-esteem and gender sensitivity. The promotion of gender equality emphasizes
the role of women in decision-making positions, gender-friendly planning of events and
building on attitudes toward eradication of discrimination and violence. In support of WFP
Strategic Objective 5, the project's outcomes are to:
- connect women and men smallholder/low-income farmers with markets, allowing
them to invest in technology and practices that increase maize and bean
production thereby improving their food security and increasing their incomes;
- increase women's participation in small farmers’ organizations; and
- increase marketing opportunities at the national level for small farmers'
organizations.
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Guatemala CP 200031, Activity 4:"Enhance the Capacities of Government Institutions" Duration: 1 January 2010 – 31 December 2014
Total capacity augmentation commitment: US$999,915
Through this activity WFP works with partners to enhance national capacities on gender,
school meals, emergency preparedness and response, micronutrients and HIV. The "Joint
Programme on Gender" enables WFP to contribute to the implementation of the national
policy on gender and to the enhancement of the capacities of government institutions. The
main partners of the government programme are the Presidential Secretariat for Women and
the Office of the Advocate for Indigenous Women.
WFP also works at strengthening emergency preparedness and response capacities by
providing technical assistance to The National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction, the
Ministry of Agriculture, and Food Security and Nutrition Secretariat. Technical assistance is
provided in the area of risk management to reduce the impact of natural disasters on
livelihoods. In carrying out this activity, WFP works with other United Nations agencies and
several NGOs. WFP also continues to provide technical assistance to the Ministry of
Education primarily on improving the quality and efficiency of the national school meals
programme by implementing UNESCO and UNICEF’s concept of the Essential Package and
by improving monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.
WFP’s work to reduce chronic undernutrition has to be accompanied by advocacy and
technical support for interventions aimed at reducing hidden hunger. WFP also works with
the Government to implement its national plan to reduce micronutrient deficiencies,
particularly by contributing to the scaling-up of the Ministry of Health's Micronutrient
Programme through which children under 5 receive MNP. Supporting WFP Strategic
Objective 5, this activity's expected outcomes are:
- enhanced capacities of government institutions in the design, management and
implementation of policies and programmes in reducing chronic undernutrition;
- enhanced capacities of government institutions in managing and implementing the
national plan to reduce micronutrient deficiencies;
- the provision of technical assistance for government institutions to integrate food-
based safety net programmes; and
- early warning systems, contingency plans and food monitoring systems, in place,
in targeted communities, with WFP capacity development support.
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Guatemala DEV 200348: "Building Capacities to Adapt and Overcome the Global
Climatic Change and Improve Food and Nutritional Security in Degraded Areas in the
Dry Corridor of Guatemala"
Duration: 1 June 2013 – 30 May 2016 (New project – subject to approval)
Total project commitment: US$4,662,300
The main objective of the project is to strengthen local capacities to understand and adapt to
increasing climate risks in the sub-watershed of the Chilil River in the Quiche Department in
the area called the "dry corridor." Communities and households increase their capacity in
terms of knowledge skills and cash programmes that enable communities to create physical
assets, enabling them to manage their water, land and forest resources in a sustainable way,
while increasing, improving and diversifying their agricultural production as well as their
income. This increases their overall resilience to food and nutrition insecurity and decreases
their vulnerability to natural disasters including drought, flooding and landslides. The present
project actively promotes the prominent role of women within watershed and water
committees and is in line with WFP Strategic Objective 3. Participants in FFA and FFT
activities are trained or carry out project activities and receive cash-for-asset transfers. Direct
beneficiaries include all household members benefiting from cash provided to participants.
The duration of the asset creation work programs and training sessions made possible by the
project varies considerably according to established work norms. Furthermore, participants in
one activity will in several cases also participate in other activities. The duration of WFP
assistance is one complete lean season each year.
For the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, the project constitutes a model for
the Ministry's contribution to the achievement of the objectives of the “Zero Hunger Plan” by
addressing the underlying environmental and socio-economic causes for the high levels of
food and nutrition insecurity in the area, and establishing sustainable solutions for the
management of agriculture and natural resources in vulnerable areas. In the four participating
municipalities, the project establishes the nucleus of future Municipal Environmental
Management Units which considerably increases the planning and environmental
management capacity of municipalities as a whole.
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(d) Special Operations None
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Country Background
Haiti is ranked 158 out of 187 countries on the 2011 UNDP
Human Development Index. It is the poorest country in the
western hemisphere with 75 percent of its population living
below the poverty line, or less than US$2 a day. Extreme
poverty is mainly concentrated in rural areas where 58
percent live in poverty compared to 20 percent in the Port-au-
Prince metropolitan area. More than 70 percent of the
population have no access to healthcare and only 50 percent
have access to portable water.
Haiti is a food-deficit country. Its agricultural production covers only half of the nutritional
needs of its 10 million inhabitants. It is estimated that 3.8 million, 38 percent of the Haitian
population, is in a situation of food insecurity. A National Nutritional Study led by the
Ministry of Health in March 2013 using the Standardized Monitoring and Assessment of
Relief and Transitions methodology determined that 4 percent of children under 5 suffer from
GAM and 23 percent suffer from chronic malnutrition. In addition, 61 percent of children 6–
59 months and 46 percent of women 15–49 years of age suffer from anaemia. In addition,
UNICEF reports that the HIV prevalence rate is 2.2 percent, the highest in the Caribbean sub-
region.
Approximately 500,000 schoolchildren aged 6–12 do not attend school. According to
UNICEF, only twenty percent of children will reach five years of education and two percent
will finish secondary education. Despite efforts made since the launching of the National
Education and Training Plan ten years ago, the education system continues to face challenges.
The limited schooling that is available, is poorly suited to demand. Education is largely
dominated by the private sector. After the earthquake, the Government has reaffirmed the
importance of school meals, which is seen as a social safety net and is essential for rebuilding
the educational system.
Situated in a region of major tropical storms and hurricanes with a topography made up of
steep and deforested hillsides and flood-prone areas, Haiti is particularly vulnerable to
weather-related shocks. The 2010 earthquake, extreme weather events and the steep rise in
food prices over a five-year period has forced already vulnerable populations to resort to
negative coping mechanisms which increase food insecurity and malnutrition. In mid-2012,
390,000 people still lived under tents. Chronic poverty is prevalent among the extremely poor
who have no access to basic housing. Beyond humanitarian concerns, this situation raises a
considerable development challenge. In addition to the deterioration of living conditions in
camps since the withdrawal of many humanitarian agencies, the risks inherent to the rainy
and hurricane season and the cholera outbreaks that may occur as a result of the
contamination of water sources, call for increased vigilance as they continue to pose severe
threats to the country.
Haiti is a fragile state, historically affected by high insecurity and political instability. The
United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), a peace-making mission, has
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been deployed since 2004. Interventions to strengthen social protection programmes in Haiti
are of utmost importance in addressing vulnerability.
While Haiti may be undergoing a process of normalization, the weakness of public
institutions, widespread poverty, multiple vulnerabilities and a long history of political
instability advocate Haiti remaining high on the international agenda, with appropriate levels
of support. The United Nations agencies in Haiti are prioritizing the reinforcement of
government institutions as a central strategy for strengthening the country's control of its own
politics, security and development.
Objectives of WFP Assistance in Haiti
WFP’s activities in Haiti are a key component of the MINUSTAH efforts in stabilizing the
country. WFP’s actions in 2013 build on lessons learned from 2008 onwards in helping to
maintain stability by strengthening food security. WFP’s assistance in Haiti supports the
recovery efforts in line with the 2013-2016 United Nations Integrated Strategic Framework
(UNISF), which is being finalized between the United Nations and Haitian authorities and is
also being aligned with the National Development Plan.
WFP’s activities in the country focus on strengthening the country's ability to prepare, assess
and respond to food insecurity threats caused by natural disasters and other shocks through
social safety nets and productive safety net programmes. They also support countrywide
emergency preparedness and response activities. WFP invests in nutrition by providing
school-based social protection measures, cash and food-based support to vulnerable groups
and emergency food assistance. At the same time, WFP works with the Government to build
the necessary local capacities and reinforce local ownership within a number of social
protection programmes.
WFP implements its social safety-net activities through three projects, a PRRO which runs
until July 2013, an on-going school feeding development project which runs until 2014 and a
new nutritional development project, which will start in July 2013. The new nutritional
development project will be focused on malnutrition, including both preventive and
supplementary feeding activities, and providing take home rations for people living with HIV
(PLHIV).
WFP continues to assist the Government in promoting a sustainable school meals project,
with WFP’s local purchases linking school meals to local agricultural production and
processed commodities. Through a trust fund, WFP is procuring milk for children over a
three year school period, from 2010–2013, by conducting the procurement functions on
behalf of the Government and supervising the process.
In 2013, WFP plans to strengthen the Emergency Preparedness and Response (EPR)
capacities through a proposed regional PRRO covering Haiti, Dominican Republic and Cuba,
which will address the on-going impacts caused by natural disasters on the most vulnerable
populations. The proposed regional operation will be based in Haiti and will be designed in a
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way to rapidly respond to emergency situations in Haiti, Cuba and the Dominican Republic,
whenever disasters surpass government response capacities.
WFP operations in Haiti address MDGs 1 through 6 and MDG8. By providing life-saving
emergency food rations in the immediate aftermath of a disaster WFP will achieve MDG1.
WFP will address MDG2 by providing meals to school-aged children under the school meals
programme, and MDG3 will be achieved by promoting gender equality and empowering
women. The provision of nutritional supplements to children 6–59 months, and pregnant and
lactating women (PLW) will address MDG 4 and 5 respectively. Food assistance is designed
to help increase adherence to medical treatment and to reduce the impact of income loss of
patients to their families, thus working toward MDG6. WFP has also continued to support
food-insecure Haitians living with HIV or tuberculosis (TB), and their families. MDG8 will
be addressed by developing a global partnership for development.
WFP Projects and Operations Foreseen in 2013
(a) Emergency Operations None
(b) Protracted Relief and Recovery Operations
Haiti PRRO 108440: "Food Assistance for Vulnerable Groups Exposed to Recurrent
Shocks" Duration: 1 January 2010 – 30 June 2013
Total food/cash and voucher commitment: 143,956 mt/US$32,611,968 (Expected budget
revision for decrease of the overall food requirements by 7,025 mt. The value of cash
transfers remains the same).
The PRRO supports Haiti's sustained recovery from recurrent shocks, including the 2008
series of hurricanes and tropical storms, and the devastating earthquake in January 2010. With
this operation, WFP supports and strengthens communities' resiliency to shocks through
disaster preparedness activities designed to enhance the local capacity to address food
insecurity.
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This operation addresses all of WFP Strategic Objectives, but with a primary focus on WFP
Strategic Objectives 1, 3 and 4. The main outcomes of WFP assistance are:
- the immediate food needs of vulnerable populations affected by crisis situations
are met in a timely manner;
- enhanced community and household resilience to recurrent or seasonal shocks,
and livelihoods are built and restored; and
- progress is made towards nationally-owned hunger solutions for social protection,
risk reduction and resilience building initiatives through capacity-development
activities with related government agencies.
High-energy biscuits will be distributed for the first five days after a shock, general food
distribution (GFD) will be provided for 21 days, and blanket supplementary feeding based on
assessments. WFP supports the development of social protection programmes and universal
access to primary education through school meals, cash for assets (CFA), food for assets
(FFA) and nutrition activities. In addition, WFP will work with key partners to increase the
local production of basic food commodities and fortified complementary foods. WFP
continues to build capacity in emergency response through the development and
reinforcement of the humanitarian warehouse, transport and response fleet.
For the 2012–2013 school year, in conjunction with the Government's “Universal Access to
Primary Education” plan, WFP will continue to provide food assistance to schools until June
2013 to partially cover the school feeding programme in the departments of Ouest and Sud-
Est. It will continue to assist the Government in promoting sustainable school meals with
WFP's local purchases, linking school meals to local agricultural production. School meals
beneficiaries will receive a food basket of cereals, pulses, oil and salt.
Moreover, WFP supports reconstruction and local income levels through CFA and FFA
activities centred on restoring livelihoods through labour-intensive activities. These activities
focus on building infrastructure and watershed management. The food basket for these
activities is composed of rice, pulses, vegetable oil and salt.
WFP employs an integrated approach to nutrition through the provision of an essential
nutrition package in health centres at the community level, while supporting the creation of a
national policy framework and advocating nutrition objectives in social-protection
programmes. Nutrition interventions ensure that the most vulnerable populations receive
adequate micronutrient support through fortified food and supplements. Pregnant and
lactating women and PLHIV receive Supercereal, vegetable oil and sugar. Children under 5
receive Plumpy’ sup (a food used to treat malnutrition), rice, pulses, vegetable oil and salt. In
addition, through the school meals programme, WFP distributes de-worming capsules in
coordination with the Ministry of Public Health and Population and other school stakeholders.
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Caribbean Regional PRRO 200489: "Preparedness, Disaster Risk Reduction and
Capacity Strengthening actions for the Caribbean" Duration: 1 July 2013 – 31 December 2014 (New project – subject to approval)
Total food/cash and voucher/capacity augmentation commitment: 8,172mt/US$2,302,500
/US$859,105
The Island of Hispaniola is composed of Haiti to its west and the Dominican Republic to its
east. The island is exposed to recurrent and ever more extreme natural disasters. Tropical
storms and cyclones have historically hit the island with devastating effects almost on a
yearly basis; more than 100 cyclones have directly hit the island since 1871. Haiti, Dominican
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Republic and Cuba are highly vulnerable to the yearly cyclone period and frequently suffer
from the effects of the same cyclones, as recently demonstrated by Tropical Storm Isaac that
moved through the Caribbean in August 2012. Earthquakes are also considered a serious
threat, particularly after the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti in 2010. Recurrent
quakes have been occurring on the east side throughout 2012. Cuba is equally affected by
tropical cyclones and drought, but has some of the best emergency preparedness and response
capacities in the region. A regional PRRO will strengthen the EPR capacities of Haiti,
Dominican Republic and Cuba in addressing the on-going impact caused by natural disasters
on the most vulnerable populations. The main components of this PRRO will be emergency
response, preparedness and recovery. The main components of the PRRO will be emergency
response, preparedness and recovery and will therefore address WFP Strategic Objectives 1,
2, 3 and 5. For the objective 5, the regional PRRO will continue supporting government and
other stakeholders in building their capacity on Disaster Risk Reduction programming and
logistical capacity building.
Emergency response will focus on setting up a prepositioning network capable of covering
Haiti's needs as well as including prepositioning for the Dominican Republic and Cuba. In
addition, the operation will include:
- a logistic component that would permit the logistical handling of emergency
situations; and
- an early response component that will enable WFP to address the immediate and
urgent food needs of the affected population.
The disaster risk reduction component will include GFD and FFA. Cash and voucher
modalities to reduce the negative impact of disasters on the nutrition, food security and
livelihoods of the affected populations and cash for assets (CFA) activities may be
implemented quickly in order to help with street cleaning, rubble removal and infrastructure
rehabilitation.
This regional PRRO is still under discussion. The regional approach of the PRRO will
significantly contribute to strengthen the institutional relations between the three countries in
EPR. It will also help address EPR gaps in the national capacities and response structures of
the countries, stimulating the creation of alliances amongst different actors.
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(c) Development Projects and Activities
Haiti DEV 200150: "Assistance to the National School Feeding Programme"
Duration: 1 January 2012 – 31 December 2014
Total food commitment: 45,753 mt
This development project supports the Haitian Government's long term policy to ensure basic
education for all children. Implemented in the five departments not directly affected by the
2010 earthquake (Artibonite, Centre, Nord, Nord-Est and Nord-Ouest), this project aims to
keep children in school throughout the fundamental education levels (up to ninth grade),
while improving their educational and nutritional status by providing school meals. For the
2013 – 2014 school year, this development project will cover the departments until June
2013. The needs for the second half of the year will be revised for the remaining life of the
project.
This project supports WFP's Strategic Objectives 4 and 5 and is in line with the National Plan
for Reconstruction and Development in Haiti, the Operational Plan for the Re-Establishment
of the Educational System and the Ministry of Agriculture's National Investment Plan. It is
also part of the United Nations Integrated Strategic Framework, with reference to the strategic
objective on social and economic reconstruction.
In addition, the project will include an important component of national capacity-
development with four complementary themes:
- assistance in formulating national policies on school feeding and local purchase;
- contribution to the establishment of a legal and institutional framework linking
the National School Feeding Program (PNCS) and the Ministry of Education;
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- support for strengthening the monitoring and evaluation system of PNCS and its
partners; and
- contribution to the expansion of opportunities to supply locally-produced food in
schools.
The food basket consists of rice, pulses, vegetable oil, salt and micronutrient powder and is
designed to reduce micronutrient deficiencies, particularly anaemia.
Haiti DEV 200488: "Nutritional Assistance to the National School Feeding Programme" Duration: 1 July 2013 – 31 December 2014 (New project – subject to approval)
Total food commitment: 20,922 mt
Nutrition interventions implemented under a nutrition strategy devised with the Ministry of
Health and Population and the Haiti Nutrition Cluster are essential in preventing a nutrition
crisis. This development project is intended to continue WFP nutritional activities in Haiti
after the PRRO, “Food Assistance for Vulnerable Groups Exposed to Recurrent Shocks”,
ends in June 2013.
The nutrition strategy envisages moving from a treatment-based to a prevention-based safety-
net approach. Priority will be given to the families of women and children in current
treatment programmes in other social protection schemes. This will help address economic
constraints within the family ensuring access to a diversified diet that is higher in quality and
thereby preventing their recurrent need for the support of treatment programmes. The project
will focus on three main activities. This operation addresses the following WFP Strategic
Objectives 3, 4 and 5.
WFP will address through targeted supplementary feeding and a preventive approach,
moderate acute malnutrition among children aged 6–9 and PLW. Admission and exit criteria
and the duration of assistance will be based on the new “National Protocol for the Treatment
of Acute Malnutrition”. Children aged 6–59 will receive Plumpy’sup, and women a mix of
Supercereal, vegetable oil and sugar. Micronutrient support will be favoured via the nutrition
activities. Anti-retroviral therapy and TB clients will receive take-home rations covering the
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household food needs (based on five-member households) to optimize the effectiveness and
adherence to the treatment. Each PLHIV patient and their family will receive a ration
composed of cereals, pulses, vegetable oil and salt.
The project will also support the Haitian authorities in developing a legal framework on food
fortification, focused fortification projects for locally-milled wheat flour, locally-produced
maize and the iodization of locally-produced salt. This involves working with small-scale
producers and farmer's associations and salt producers, building their capacity to produce and
market fortified products ensuring quality control.
Additionally, this project will support the Ministry of Public Health and Population in
building Haiti's nutritional policy. WFP aims to provide institutional capacity including
thorough support in updating nutrition policies and norms, providing training to staff and
supporting advocacy and communication campaigns. Particular emphasis will be on ensuring
capacities are developed not only in Port-au-Prince but also in departments, districts and
communities across the country.
(d) Special Operations None
Honduras
500
Country Background
Honduras has a population of 8 million people and is ranked 121 out of
187 countries on the 2011 UNDP Human Development Index. Sixty-
eight percent of people live under the poverty line and 47 percent in
extreme poverty. Food and nutritional insecurity among the most
vulnerable populations has worsened due to on-going droughts in the
southern and western regions of the country, an area known as the "dry
corridor". According to the 2005 National Survey of Living
Conditions, chronic malnutrition affects 27 percent of children under 5.
The stunting rate is 25 percent overall while the prevalence of chronic
malnutrition in rural areas is 34 percent; three times greater than what
is observed in urban areas. In May 2011, according to WFP Field Monitoring, 6 percent of
children under 5 were affected by acute malnutrition in the southern region.
There is considerable inequality in the education sector; the illiteracy rate is 22 percent in
rural areas and 8 percent in urban areas. Current estimates indicate that more than 300,000
children do not attend school and most live in suburban marginal areas. The drop-out rate is
attributed to poverty as families cannot afford to buy school supplies, clothing or shoes. The
HIV epidemic is a serious and growing threat for the country. According to the Ministry of
Health, it is estimated that 0.7 percent of the population live with HIV.
Honduras is the third country in the world most affected by natural disasters in the last 20
years. The country is exposed to recurrent natural disasters and the poorest communities
suffer from the repercussions of successive shocks. In October 2011, Honduras was under the
destructive floods caused by the Tropical Depression 12-E (TD 12-E) and several days of
heavy rainfall. According to meteorological agencies, before the events associated with TD
12-E, rainfall levels in Honduras were already at record levels and the soil was saturated. As a
consequence of TD 12-E, heavy rainfall has caused great damage in several provinces in the
southern region, affecting crops of basic and commercial grains, basic infrastructure and the
food security situation in the region.
Objectives of WFP Assistance in Honduras
WFP Honduras is implementing a component of a regional PRRO and a country programme
(CP). The regional PRRO addresses food insecurity caused by natural disasters through food
assistance to affected families, including food-for-assets (FFA) during the early recovery
phase. It provides a structure for emergency preparedness and response and disaster risk
reduction activities. A new regional PRRO starting mid-2013 will continue supporting food
insecure families affected by recurrent shocks.
The CP, which was developed in consultation with the Government, is aligned with national
development plans, the recent food security and nutrition strategy, and the “Bonus 10,000”
cash transfer from the social safety net programme which targets the most vulnerable
population. The CP was designed to reduce food insecurity and malnutrition and to improve
human development factors including health, nutrition and education. Its objectives are to:
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- enhance children's opportunities to complete primary education;
- prevent and reduce undernutrition among children under 5, pregnant and lactating
women (PLW) and people living with HIV on anti-retroviral therapy (ART); and
- build communities' resilience to climate hazards through diversification of
livelihoods.
In addition, WFP and the Government of Honduras have established trust funds to support
food-based programmes. The largest trust fund aims to expand the National School Feeding
Programme coverage, which is the largest safety net programme in Honduras. WFP focuses
on the most food-insecure areas, allowing the Government to reach other parts of the country,
covering 86 percent of primary schools. WFP resources compliment contributions from the
Government and the private sector. Transport related costs for this project are also managed
through this trust fund established to support and manage the logistic activities for each
component.
WFP is working to link smallholder farmers' organizations to markets through the Purchase
for Progress initiative (P4P). This initiative offers market opportunities to farmers'
organizations by purchasing maize and beans for the National School Feeding Programme
managed by WFP and funded by the Government of Honduras.
WFP activities contribute to achieving MDGs 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6. Both the PRRO and CP work
towards MDG1; eradicating poverty and hunger. The CP works towards MDG2 in achieving
universal primary education through the National School Feeding Programme. WFP activities
help to reduce child mortality, by reducing chronic undernutrition rates and anaemia among
children under 5, contributing to MDG 4. The CP supports MDG5 by improving maternal
health through interventions aimed at reducing anaemia among women of reproductive age.
The CP also supports MDG6 through its activities that address HIV, malaria and other
diseases through assistance to people living with HIV.
WFP Projects and Operations Foreseen in 2013
(a) Emergency Operations None
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(b) Protracted Relief and Recovery Operations
Central America Regional PRRO 200043: "Assistance to Vulnerable Groups Affected
by Natural Disasters and Other Shocks in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and
Nicaragua" Duration: 1 January 2011 – 30 June 2013 (Extension subject to approval. Current end-date:
31 December 2012. Follow-on project to start in July 2013, subject to approval)
Total food/capacity augmentation commitment: 7,857 mt/ US$101,229 (For the Honduras
component)
Food insecurity in Honduras is closely related to natural disasters and poverty. The country is
exposed to recurrent natural disasters and the poorest communities suffer from the
repercussions of successive shocks. In 2012, an extended canicula (long middle summer)
affected the southern region of the country causing droughts. The regional project aims to
meet the immediate needs of food insecure populations affected by successive natural
disasters, to protect their livelihoods, avoid a deterioration of their nutritional status and help
their recovery efforts. It is based on a prompt and efficient response capacity, including
prepositioning and use of contingency stocks in each country to enable WFP to rapidly
address emergency situations. A six-month extension of this project seeks to focus on
prepositioning food for medium size emergencies usually occurring in the second semester of
the year and to assist with early recovery activities as a result of emergencies occurring in
both the current year and end of the previous year. In addition, and although historically
natural disasters have occurred more frequently during the second semester of the year, the
PRRO is ready to assist immediately in the event of a sudden emergency.
In line with Strategic Objective 1 and 3, the PRRO’s main objectives are:
- provision of immediate relief and stabilization of acute malnutrition below
emergency levels among the most vulnerable people affected by climatic shocks
and natural disasters;
- protection of livelihoods in emergencies and early recovery; and
- support to the rehabilitation of livelihoods and food and nutrition security of
communities affected by shocks.
This PRRO comprises two main components: relief and recovery. The relief component
provides immediate emergency response through general food distributions (GFD) in order to
save lives, avoid the deterioration of the nutritional status and prevent the use of negative
coping strategies by the most vulnerable populations. Blanket supplementary feeding for
children under 2 is also used as a preventive measure to stabilize acute malnutrition rates in
this particularly vulnerable group. The recovery component assists with early recovery
activities to increase household income and rehabilitate community infrastructure and
agricultural productive capacities through FFA interventions.
The PRRO targets the most vulnerable people including those displaced and in shelters,
families who have lost their homes, households that depend on subsistence agriculture and
have lost more than 50 percent of their crops and families with very limited access to food.
Blanket supplementary feeding benefits children under 2, alongside the GFD activities. The
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food basket is composed of cereals, pulses, vegetable oil, salt, blended food and sugar. A new
PRRO, subject to approval, will start in July 2013 and follow the same strategy as the current
PRRO but with a more effective approach for response and recovery activities as well as the
possible inclusion of cash and voucher activities.
(c) Development Projects and Activities
Honduras CP 200240: "Country Programme - Honduras (2012–2016)"
Duration: 1 January 2012 – 31 December 2016
Total food/cash and voucher commitment: 27,134 mt/US$25,811,641
The overall objective of the CP is to contribute to reducing food insecurity in Honduras. In
line with WFP Strategic Objectives 2 and 4, this CP aims to:
- support the Government in increasing enrolment in pre- and primary schools and
to improve school children's health;
- improve the nutritional status of young children and PLW, and increase the
survival rate of ART clients; and
- build resilience among vulnerable households exposed to climate hazards in
degraded environments.
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There are three components of the CP: i) school feeding; ii) nutritional support for vulnerable
groups; and iii) agro-forestry and watershed management for adapting to climate-related
shocks. This CP targets the most vulnerable populations in the southern and western regions,
which are the poorest and most food-insecure. The CP also develops capacities among
government counterparts to enable an eventual hand-over, particularly of the school feeding
programme. The CP is also aligned with interventions on food security, nutrition, education,
HIV and climate change in the 2012-2016 United Nations Development Assistance
Framework (UNDAF).
Honduras CP 200240, Activity 1: "School Feeding" Duration: 1 January 2012 – 31 December 2016
Total food commitment: 12,030 mt
This activity supports the Government in encouraging the enrolment and continued
attendance of children in pre- and primary schools, and improving the health of primary
school children. Targeted schools are in areas with a high prevalence of food insecurity, low
enrolment and attendance rates and high drop-out rates. Children receive a daily cooked meal
throughout the school year. This component focuses on children in the “dry corridor”
province, complementing the National School Feeding Programme implemented by the
Government in most of other parts of the country.
School feeding is aligned with WFP’s 2009 School Feeding Policy and the 2008 National
Education Sector Policy. This activity is in line with WFP Strategic Objectives 4 and 5 and
aims to accomplish the following outcomes:
- increased enrolment of boys and girls in WFP-assisted schools;
- improved attendance of boys and girls in WFP-assisted schools;
- improved capacity to concentrate and learn among boys and girls in WFP-assisted
schools;
- reduced gender gap between boys and girls in WFP-assisted pre- and primary
schools; and
- enhanced government capacity to implement the national school feeding
programme.
This activity is implemented in collaboration with the Ministry of Education. Complementary
school-based activities with UNICEF support an “Essential Package” of improvements to
school buildings, water and sanitation, and de-worming. WFP measures progress according to
its Eight Quality Standards. Additionally, 80 percent of children in WFP assisted schools
receive de-worming treatment twice a year. The Ministry of Social Development is expected
to contribute significant financial resources enhancing the sustainability of the national school
feeding programme, a key part of the ownership and eventual hand-over process. Capacity
development is increased and linked with institutional and decentralization plans under the
"National Food Security and Nutrition Strategic Plan for 2010–2022" (ENSAN). The food
basket for this activity consists of Super cereal, vegetable oil, maize, rice and beans.
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Honduras CP 200240, Activity 2: "Nutritional Support to Vulnerable Groups" Duration: 1 January 2012 – 31 December 2016
Total food commitment: 9,728 mt
This activity aims to ensure proper nutrition among both children under 5, particularly in the
"1,000-day window of opportunity", and PLW. WFP also supports food-insecure children and
adults affected by HIV and their households to improve survival rates and adherence to
treatment. In accordance with WFP Strategic Objectives 4 and 5, activities are carried out as
follows:
- Through blanket feeding for children 6-23 months of age in selected food-
insecure areas, this component works towards preventing stunting. It also
undertakes the treatment of underweight children by providing supplementary
food for undernourished children 24-59 months of age on the basis of a weight-
for-age indicator. Pregnant and lactating women are treated for malnutrition based
on mid-upper arm circumference by providing supplementary food for six months
after delivery.
- Safety-nets for the families of malnourished children and PLW are also provided.
In the lean season from April-July, the most food-insecure families reduce food
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consumption by 60 percent, therefore severely food-insecure families with
undernourished children or PLW receive a family ration to ensure nutritional
recovery, minimize the sharing of individual rations and encourage attendance at
nutrition centres.
- Food-insecure or nutrition-insecure ART clients and their households in areas
selected on the basis of nutritional assessments are also targeted. Anti-retroviral
therapy clients receive a family ration for six months and nutrition counselling
that includes advice on becoming self-reliant. Rations are delivered by health
centre staff through HIV self-support groups; WFP has been collaborating with
the Rand Corporation and the United States' National Institutes of Health on
research about the impact of nutrition counselling and food support on ART
adherence. The HIV intervention, which is in line with government protocols for
ART, builds on lessons learned from this project.
This activity is implemented in coordination with the Ministry of Health at the departmental
and municipal levels, NGOs and United Nations agencies working under the Food Security
and Nutrition Coalition for early warning and nutritional surveillance. Capacity development
in line with ENSAN is carried out with the Ministry of Health, particularly for the
measurement of the nutritional status and dissemination of good practices for nutrition
interventions. The food basket consists of maize, rice, beans, Supercereal, vegetable oil and
sugar.
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Honduras CP 200240, Activity 3: "Agro-Forestry and Watershed Management for
Adaptation to Climate-Related Shocks"
Duration: 1 January 2012 – 31 December 2016
Total food commitment: 5,376 mt
This activity is in line with WFP Strategic Objective 2 and focuses on: i) protecting the
environment in vulnerable areas and reducing the environmental impact on communities; and
ii) diversifying the livelihoods of vulnerable households through tree plantations and
conservation. It is implemented in 45 municipalities in the “dry corridor” province, which
have the highest prevalence of food insecurity linked to droughts and floods.
Food-for-assets activities include protection of water sources, soil and water conservation and
reforestation involving plant nurseries, plantations of fruit trees and household orchards. They
take place mainly during the lean season. The FFA component was designed in accordance
with the Government's “Bonus 10,000” safety net and ENSAN; it supports the Government's
work on enhancing food security through environmental protection schemes and increased
food production. A capacity-development plan is being developed with government
counterparts to facilitate its eventual hand-over.
The “Bonus 10,000” government safety net provides cash, linked to beneficiary use of health
and education services. A similar modality to the “Bonus 10,000” programme is applied in
this activity. However, under this component, WFP beneficiaries receive food instead of cash
because they live in areas where grain is not readily available during the lean season; WFP
works with the Government to determine the appropriate type of transfer. Participants are
selected in consultation with the Government. The selection process uses various food
security criteria such as reliance on subsistence farming, risk of crop failure, households
headed by women, land access and quality, and area farmed. The results are monitored to
inform future programming options. The food basket consists of maize, rice, beans,
Supercereal and vegetable oil. This activity is complemented by partners such as the National
Institute for Forestry Conservation and Development, the Ministry of Agriculture, FAO, the
Canadian International Development Agency, the Cooperative for Assistance and Relief
Everywhere and Oxfam.
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(d) Special Operations None
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Country Background
Nicaragua is a low-income food deficit country, currently ranked 129
out of 187 on the 2011 UNDP Human Development Index (HDI).
Although the country's HDI score rose by 30 percent between 1990 and
2011, the benefits of economic development have been largely uneven.
It is estimated that 42 percent of the population live below the national
poverty line and 14 percent live on less than US$1.25 per day.
According to the National Demographic and Health Survey, 21 percent
of children under 5 suffer from chronic undernutrition with the highest
prevalence of it occurring in the country's “dry corridor”, an area prone
to continuous periods of drought. The rates of chronic undernutrition in
these areas are as follows: Madriz at 35 percent, Nueva Segovia at 28 percent, the
Autonomous Atlantic North Region (RAAN) at 31 percent and Jinotega at 38 percent. In
WFP’s intervention areas of RAAN and Jinotega, the school drop-out rates were found to be
14 percent and 13 percent respectively. The prevalence of chronic undernutrition among
schoolchildren is 27 percent. In Nicaragua, the Ministry of Health has reported that the
national prevalence rate of HIV is less than one percent. However, it is estimated that this
figure is five times higher due to a widespread reluctance to register.
Farmers continue to implement traditional agricultural methods with low-yield production of
basic grains. In addition, having little farm management experience and technical capacity
results in greater financial limitations and post-harvest losses. These factors, along with the
impact of climate change, increase vulnerability to natural disasters and other shocks. In the
past five years, Nicaragua has been affected by global high food prices and the economic
downturn. At the same time, Nicaragua is exposed to recurrent natural disasters and the
poorest communities suffer from the repercussions of successive shocks. Nicaragua is the
fourth most-affected country in the world due to the frequency and severity of the numerous
natural disasters occurring in the last 20 years.
Objectives of WFP Assistance in Nicaragua
In Nicaragua, WFP is transitioning from food aid to food assistance, and thus conducts
activities that focus heavily on strengthening the national capacity to find long-term hunger
solutions through technical assistance. All activities include a strong capacity development
component to enable the Government to better design, implement and evaluate its own
programmes and initiatives.
WFP is supporting the Government's national development plan, which includes the
“National Programme towards the Eradication of Child Chronic Undernutrition”, the
“National Micronutrient Plan”, the “Early Childhood Stimulation Programme”, the “National
HIV Programme”, and the “National Education Plan”; this is done through Mother and Child
Health and Nutrition and School Feeding.
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510
The Central America regional PRRO addresses food insecurity caused by natural disasters
through food assistance to affected families, including food for assets (FFA) and food for
training (FFT) during the early recovery phase. It provides a structure for emergency
preparedness and response and disaster risk reduction activities. A new regional PRRO
starting mid-2013 will continue supporting food insecure families affected by recurrent
shocks.
The country programme (CP) supports MDGs 4 and 5, providing nutrition support to
pregnant and lactating women (PLW) and children under 2. Through the CP, WFP works
towards MDG2 by increasing access to education. MDGs 1 and 7 are supported by the CP in
strengthening household and community resilience. The CP also supports MDG6 in its
adherence to anti-retroviral therapy (ART) treatment for HIV clients living in food-insecure
households.
In addition, WFP Nicaragua is a Purchase for Progress pilot country which seeks to support
MDG1 by improving the quality and commercialization of maize production for smallholder
farmers. This is done through smallholder famers’ organizations in order to increase crop
yields and improve product quality, which in turn increases their incomes. The CP and PRRO
are both in line with national strategies enabling an effective and joint response to food
insecurity in the country.
WFP Projects and Operations Foreseen in 2013
(a) Emergency Operations None
(b) Protracted Relief and Recovery Operations
Central America Regional PRRO 200043: "Assistance to Vulnerable Groups Affected
by Natural Disasters and Other Shocks in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and
Nicaragua" Duration: 1 January 2011 – 30 June 2013 (Extension subject to approval. Current end-date:
31 December 2012. Follow-on project to start in July 2013, subject to approval)
Total food/ capacity augmentation commitment: 7,857 mt/ US$20,000 (For the Nicaragua
component of the PRRO)
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Nicaragua faces significant losses annually in its agricultural production due to recurrent
droughts and floods, which especially impact the “dry corridor” of the country. The regional
project aims to meet the immediate needs of food-insecure populations affected by successive
natural disasters, to protect their livelihoods, avoid a deterioration of their nutritional status
and help their recovery efforts. It is based on a prompt and efficient response capacity,
including prepositioning and use of contingency stocks in each country to enable WFP to
rapidly address emergency situations. This six-month extension seeks to focus on
prepositioning food for medium-sized emergencies that usually occurs in the second half of
the year and to assist with early recovery activities as a result of emergencies occurring in
both the current year and at the end of the previous year. The PRRO is also ready to
immediately assist in the event of a sudden emergency. In line with WFP Strategic Objectives
1 and 3, the PRRO’s main objectives are:
- provision of immediate relief and stabilization of acute malnutrition below
emergency levels among the most vulnerable people affected by climatic shocks
and natural disasters;
- protection of livelihoods in emergencies and early recovery; and
- supporting rehabilitation of livelihoods, and food and nutrition security of
communities affected by shocks.
This PRRO comprises two main components: relief and recovery. The relief component
provides immediate emergency response through general food distributions (GFD) in order to
save lives, avoid the deterioration of nutritional status and prevent the use of negative coping
strategies by the most vulnerable populations. Blanket supplementary feeding for children
under 2 is also used as a preventive measure to stabilize acute malnutrition rates in this
particularly vulnerable group. The recovery component assists with early recovery activities
to increase household income and rehabilitate community infrastructure and agricultural
productive capacities through FFA and FFT interventions.
The PRRO targets the most vulnerable people. This group includes those displaced and are
living in shelters, families who have lost their homes, households that depend on subsistence
agriculture and have lost more than 50 percent of their crops, and families with very limited
access to food. The food basket is composed of cereals, pulses, vegetable oil, salt, blended
food and sugar.
The new PRRO, which, subject to approval, will start operations in July 2013, will follow the
same strategy as the current PRRO, however it will have a more effective approach to
response and recovery activities as well as the possible inclusion of cash and voucher
activities.
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(c) Development Projects and Activities
Nicaragua CP 200434: "Country Programme – Nicaragua (2013 – 2018)"
Duration: 1 January 2013 – 31 December 2018 (New project – subject to approval)
Total food: 18,096 mt
WFP aims to support the Government of Nicaragua in the design and implementation of long-
term solutions in order to break the inter-generational cycle of undernutrition and hunger. All
activities include a strong capacity development component to enable the Government to
eventually manage and implement their programmes. The nutrition component was developed
in line with government strategies and regional nutritional initiatives.
WFP will target PLW and children 6–23 months in order to support national efforts in
preventing undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies and health deterioration. The school
feeding component is in line with the “National Education Plan” which will promote local
purchases from smallholder farmers to support sustainable development as well as local
agriculture investment at the community level. The FFA component aims to improve
livelihoods and strengthen the resiliency of communities to mitigate shocks and adapt to
climate change. This CP will also support adherence to ART among HIV clients.
The CP will be implemented in 20 municipalities in the departments of Nueva Segovia,
Madriz, Jinotega and RAAN, classified as “extremely” or “very highly” vulnerable to food
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insecurity. The pilot HIV component will be implemented in Chinandega and Managua which
have the highest rates of HIV prevalence.
This CP is in line with WFP Strategic Objectives 2 and 4. All activities include a strong
capacity development component in order to increase the government capacities in designing,
managing and implementing tools, policies and programmes to predict and reduce hunger, in
line with WFP Strategic Objective 5.
Nicaragua CP 200434, Activity 1: "Nutritional Support to Vulnerable Groups" Duration: 1 January 2013 – 31 December 2018 (New project – subject to approval)
Total food commitment: 1,543.5 mt
This component aims to strengthen government nutrition programmes while improving the
nutritional status of PLW and children 6–23 months of age in targeted communities in the
departments of Nueva Segovia and Madriz, with a high prevalence of chronic undernutrition
and micronutrient deficiencies. In keeping with government strategies and the WFP regional
nutritional initiative based on the “1,000 Days Movement”, WFP will support PLW and
children 6–23 months through complementary food rations.
In line with WFP Strategic Objective 4, this component is expected to improve the nutritional
status of targeted women, boys, and girls. WFP will provide micronutrient enriched foods to
women and children through their local health posts to encourage mothers to receive pre- and
postnatal care, monitor their children's nutritional status, receive individual counselling and
education on proper nutrition, hygiene and health. Pregnant and lactating women will receive
a ration of Supercereal and vegetable oil and children 6–23 months will receive Supercereal
plus.
Under the framework of the regional initiative, designed jointly with the Ministry of Health
WFP will provide technical assistance to the ministry in the implementation and follow-up of
their programmes and plans.
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Nicaragua CP 200434, Activity 2: "Support Access to Education"
Duration: 1 January 2013 – 31 December 2018 (New project – subject to approval)
Total food: 14,625 mt
This component aims to support access to education in pre- and primary schools, targeting
indigenous communities in the department of the Jinotega and RAAN. Pre- and primary
schoolchildren will receive a hot lunch through the school feeding programme to encourage
school enrolment and class attendance. Parents and teachers will be active programme
participants through the school feeding committees, comprised of parents, community leaders
and teachers. Nutrition education will be promoted in targeted schools and it will be a
requirement to promote equal participation of women and men in decision making positions
within community committees. WFP will also provide technical assistance to the national
school feeding programme in the area of logistics.
In line with WFP Strategic Objective 4, this component will increase access to education and
human capital development of boys and girls in WFP assisted schools. WFP targeted schools
account for 15 percent of pre- and primary school aged children in Nicaragua. The food
basket for this activity consists of cereals, pulses, Supercereal, vegetable oil and dried
skimmed milk.
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Nicaragua CP 200434, Activity 3: "Strengthening of Community and Household
Resilience" Duration: 1 January 2013 – 31 December 2018 (New project – subject to approval)
Total food commitment: 1,620 mt
This component aims to enhance household and community resilience to shocks and promote
climate change adaptation through FFA and FFT. Activities such as water and soil
conservation practices and reforestation will target rural food-insecure families that depend
on degraded natural resources and who are recurrently affected by shocks during the lean
season. Participants will receive a family ration of cereals, pulses, and vegetable oil. The
ration accounts for 65 percent of the daily wage rate in the rural area. In line with WFP
Strategic Objective 2 the expected outcomes of this component are:
- Adequate food consumption over assistance period for targeted households.
- Hazard risk reduced at community level in targeted communities.
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Nicaragua CP 200434, Activity 4: "Mitigation and Safety Nets"
Duration: 1 January 2013 – 31 December 2018 (New project – subject to approval)
Total food commitment: 307 mt
The CP has included a pilot project to support food-insecure households affected by HIV.
This component aims to improve adherence to ART through the provision of take-home
rations. The HIV affected population will be reached through the “National HIV & AIDS
Programme” at the health centres at the municipal level. In line with WFP Strategic
Objective 4, the expected outcomes of this component are:
- improved adherence to ART;
- reduced ART default rate; and
- improved household food consumption score.
WFP will partner with the Ministry of Health and Pan-American Health Organization/WHO
in order to follow up the treatment adherence rate, the drop-out rate and the food consumption
score. The HIV pilot project will be implemented in Chinandega and Managua as these
communities represent the highest rates of HIV prevalence in the country. The food basket for
this activity consists of cereal, pulses, Supercereal and vegetable oil.
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(d) Special Operations None
Peru
518
Country Background Over the last five years, Peru has been characterized by a
stable economic growth of seven percent per year and a
decrease of the poverty rate by three percent per year.
However, social exclusion and income inequality remain high
with twenty eight percent of the population, 8.4 million
people, living in poverty and 21 percent, 1.8 million people,
in extreme poverty.
While food production has been steadily increasing, lack of access and inappropriate use of
food remain major problems for the country, preventing many Peruvians from achieving
nutritional and food security. Twenty-three percent of the population do not receive the
minimum required caloric intake and 18 percent of children under the age of 5 are stunted.
Food insecurity tends to be periodically aggravated by recurrent emergencies due to the
effects of climate change. A large portion of those living in poverty are indigenous women
and children, 41 percent; their daily food consumption represents only 70 percent of the
minimum nutritional requirements.
Objectives of WFP Assistance in Peru
Note: While WFP Peru does not have any projects under the traditional WFP project
categories, WFP is providing assistance in Peru as described below.
WFP’s goal until the end of 2016 is to have contributed to the Government's efforts in:
- reducing vulnerability to chronic undernutrition amongst children under 5 from
18 to 14 percent; and
- reducing the prevalence of childhood anaemia amongst children under 3 from 50
percent to less than 25 percent.
WFP’s strategy in Peru is to focus exclusively on supporting institutional capacity
development activities. These activities contribute to public policy formulation and improving
the capacities of technical staff who are directly involved in the implementation of social
programmes to eliminate hunger, child undernutrition and anaemia at national, regional and
local levels. Through a trust fund, WFP will implement a project to strengthen the
institutional capacities of national and regional governments in charge of the execution of
food and nutrition programmes. Through another trust fund, WFP will promote the food and
nutritional security in Ventanilla District in the Lima Department, an area with alarming
levels of anaemia among (PLW), more than 60 percent, and very high chronic undernutrition
rates in children under 5. This project aims to strengthen PLW’s knowledge of nutrition and
hygiene through workshops and nutritional counselling.
WFP, in collaboration with FAO, Pan American Health Organization, UNICEF and the
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime is implementing a joint programme entitled
"Improving the Nutrition and Food Security of Childhood in Peru: A Capacity-Development
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519
Approach" to contribute to sustainable socio-economic development of populations living in
the upper Andean areas and the most vulnerable populations from the Amazon Region.
WFP’s primary responsibilities under this programme are South-South cooperation and
strengthening institutional and human capacity development on food-security and nutritional
issues.
In 2010, through a pilot project, WFP, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health,
introduced micronutrients powder (MNP) as a method to treat anaemia. Based on the success
of the pilot project, the Government decided to continue MNP distribution in 18 regions
funded by the national budget. In addition, the national online platform “Nutrinet.org” has
been an important tool to facilitate the exchange of information, knowledge and South-South
cooperation best practices in issues like nutritional and food security, use of fortified food,
micronutrients and vitamins within the national programmes on food assistance and
emergency preparedness and response. WFP Peru is currently approaching donors for
funding, including the Government of Peru, for a five-year capacity development project to
strengthen the government's ability to address chronic malnutrition and anaemia. In addition,
Peru will be included in a six-year regional project to foster food and nutritional security by
enhancing community resilience in response to the impact of climate change in the Andean
Region.
WFP Peru contributes to the achievement of MDGs 1, 2 and 3. Through its activities, it
supports MDG 1 and 3 by providing technical assistance to improve the social programmes
management, promoting the use of MNP among vulnerable groups and advocating for
nutritional and food security. WFP Peru further supports the nutritional education of mothers
of children under 3, in line with MDG 3.
WFP Projects and Operations Foreseen in 2013
(a) Emergency Operations None
(b) Protracted Relief and Recovery Operations None
(c) Development Projects and Activities None
(d) Special Operations None